BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 5
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Kazakhstan’s Air Astana airline company is in the process of optimizing the route network, giving passengers the opportunity to travel more often to coronavirus-free countries, a representative of the company told Trend.
The company reminded that starting from March 1, 2020 the number of regular flights on the Nur-Sultan-Seoul-Nur-Sultan route and Almaty-Seoul-Almaty route was decreased. Starting from March 6, 2020 the flights from Almaty to Hong Kong will be suspended. Previously the company already suspended flights from Kazakhstan to Beijing and Urumqi.
“A number of changes relevant till May 31, 2020 have been made to the following routes: the company temporarily suspends frights from Nur-Sultan to Paris, flights from Almaty to Kuala Lumpur will be suspended from Aptil 14 to May 31. Flights between Almaty and Mumbai have also been suspended,” the company said.
The company added that safety continues being a priority for Air Astana.
“We provide crew with masks and sanitizers on all international flights, as well treat the aircraft with disinfectants and detergents,” the company said.
The company added that future cancellation of reservations on more routes is possible.
The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019. The number of people killed by the disease has surpassed 3,280. Over 95,000 people have been confirmed as infected.
Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019. The symptoms include cough, headache, fatigue, fever, aching and difficulty breathing. It is primarily spread through airborne contact or contact with contaminated objects. In mild cases, according to the Chinese authorities, treatment takes about a week, in severe cases - two or more.
Chinese health authorities say that the majority of the people who have died were either elderly or had underlying health problems.
Aside from Mainland China, the cases of coronavirus spreading have also been confirmed in other countries.
Several countries are developing a vaccine against the new virus.
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