Corona virus causes huge losses in tourism to China • Israelis do not book future holidays to China, airlines cancel flights and insurance companies cover many cancellations

• Masks for flight attendants at Hong Kong airport

  Photo:

  AP

It has not yet been decided when the medical quarantine will be removed for the city of Wuhan following the corona virus that threatens the world. On Tuesday, Airways Southern Airlines submitted an update to the flight schedule stating that flights to the city will be gradually renewed only in early March. Tickets for these flights can only be purchased from February 9.

Sichuan Airlines announced that "flights to Israel will be canceled from February 12 to February 26. The last flight in February will depart on March 9. Flights will resume on March 2." The reason for this move is "commercial considerations" since the low demand does not justify taking out a nearly empty aircraft. Hainan also reported a significant reduction in the number of passengers and the frequency of flights to Israel was also reduced, but a decision has not yet been made.

Ronen Kerso VP of Isha said: "There are cancellations for flights to China on a very large scale, over 60 percent."

Checking the data on the smartair flights and vacations site compared the flight booking on 13-19.1 compared to 20-26.1, and there is a 43% reduction in flights to China in the last week compared to the previous week.

Medical staff in Wuhan // Photo: AP

PassportCard announced that as of tomorrow, they will be distributing masks to company customers flying to China. The company has purchased tens of thousands of masks that should help protect against the deadly virus infection. According to the company's data, there are about 5,000 passport card insurers currently in China.

The Phoenix company announces that there are about two thousand of their insured who are currently in China and the company announces that they support the Health Ministry's announcement calling on the public to avoid trips that are not necessary to China. Clal Insurance and Finance, which markets travel insurance policies, announced last night that it would allow its clients staying in China to advance their flight back to Israel free of charge.

All airlines operating direct flights from Israel to China can cancel, change or freeze their flights. Most airlines flying to a stopover with intermediate destinations also allow. However, China is the only country that can be canceled or changed. Currently, no flight to any other Asian country can be canceled or canceled, even if the virus has arrived in some cases.

Corona Panic // Photo: AP

To date, thousands of Chinese have been diagnosed with the virus, of which about 100 have died. Most cases were found in China, but today a first case was discovered in Germany after a few days ago cases were also discovered in France and the United States in addition to many Asian countries.

The site of the infection was Wuhan City, and its airport stopped working to stop the spread of the virus. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Jan. 23 that public transportation in the city had been discontinued, and all long-term means of transport would not be available. "Citizens must not leave the city, the airport and the train station are temporarily closed."