Pakistan halts flight to and from China

Pakistani authorities say that they are halting all flights to and from China with immediate effect in light of the outbreak of a new virus.
The government Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Abdul Sattar Khokhar says that "under this decision all flight to and from China will remain suspended until February 2.''
He says this affects 22 weekly flights, including two Pakistan International Airlines flights.
The move panicked relatives of Pakistanis stranded in China a day after top Pakistani health official Zafar Mirza said that Islamabad had no immediate plan to evacuate any of some 30,000 nationals living in China.
Mirza says four Pakistani students in China have been diagnosed with the new virus and their conditions are listed as stable. About 500 Pakistani students were in Wuhan _ the site of the outbreak _ at the time it surfaced. Mirza said although the virus has killed 170 people in China, authorities in Beijing have done a good job of containing it by taking swift measures.-AP