Manado, North Sulawesi (ANTARA) - Lion Air will suspend flights on the Manado-China route in anticipation of a coronavirus outbreak. "This will take effect from February 2020. In the last few remaining days, (the flights will only operate) to take back the guests," Danang Mandala Prihantoro of the Corporate Communications Strategy of Lion Air Group, said in a statement here Tuesday.
The flights to several Chinese cities will be suspended or cancelled in stages until further.
"On the Manado-China routes, there are Manado - Tianjin - Manado; Manado - Fuzhou - Manado; and Manado - Hangzhou - Manado," Danang said.
The upcoming flights until late January will only take the Chinese back to their hometowns.
The temporary suspension is part of an anticipatory measure following a travel ban by the Wuhan authorities based on the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
Lion Air will monitor the situation in Wuhan, where the virus originated and will keep passengers informed about the latest updates, according to him. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry has issued a travel advisory to its nationals who intend to visit China.
"Indonesian citizens who are still at home should reconsider their plan to visit China and have the wisdom to select and respond to the circulating information related to the outbreak of 2019-nCoV," acting spokesman of the ministry Teuku Faizasyah said during a press briefing in Jakarta recently.
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However, the Foreign Ministry has not yet issued a travel ban for China, Faizasyah said.
"We are only advising citizens who wish to or have plans to travel to China, to exercise caution and avoid areas which based on open information have been affected or have the potential to be affected by coronavirus," he said.
He also advised Indonesians planning to visit China to access information on the location of destination through SafeTravel application provided by the Foreign Ministry.
"Through the application, anybody can understand the extent to which the Foreign Ministry recommends those wishing to travel," he said.
The information on the application is provided based on clear criteria and open information so that it can be accounted for, he added.
In the application, Hubei Province in China where Wuhan City is located is in red, which means Indonesian citizens 'cannot' visit it due to a health threat.
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