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Finland issues China travel advisory over coronavirus concerns

The foreign ministry said it was closely monitoring the coronavirus situation in cooperation with other EU countries.

Lääkintähenkilökuntaa lähdössä Wuhaniin 27. tammikuuta.
A medical team arriving to the city of Wuhan, in the central Chinese province of Hubei, on 27 January, 2020. Image: AOP

Finland's foreign ministry has issued a recommendation saying its citizens should avoid travelling to regions in China hardest-hit by the new coronavirus.

In its advisory, the ministry recommended citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to Hubei province, in central China. The province's capital city, Wuhan, is where the coronavirus outbreak is believed to have started.

The ministry said Finland has no immediate plans to evacuate citizens who are already in the affected areas. Fewer than 10 Finnish nationals have notified the ministry about planning to travel to the area.

The US, Spain and France are reportedly preparing to evacuate their respective citizens from Wuhan.

Meanwhile, the UK has vowed to help repatriate its citizens in the area and the Netherlands and Germany are still weighing the possibility of evacuations.

More than 2,800 are reported to have been infected by the coronavirus worldwide, and at least 81 people in China have died from the infectious disease.

Common signs of the new variant of coronavirus include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties, according to the WHO.

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