Europe Sends Evacuation Flight to China to Bring 350 Home, Cruise Ship Checked

Passengers arrive at Heathrow Airport in London after the last British Airways flight from China touched down in the UK following an announcement that the airline was suspending all flights to and from mainland China with immediate effect amid the escalating coronavirus crisis, on Jan. 29, 2020. Many governments have warned against unnecessary travel to China, as efforts to contain a new and deadly coronavirus virus intensify. Steve Parsons/PA via AP

LISBON, Portugal—An A380 passenger plane left Portugal on Jan. 30 en route to pick up hundreds of Europeans in China who want to escape the new virus and Italian authorities were keeping some 6,000 passengers on a cruise ship while they checked for a possible infection.

The plane took off from a former military airport at Beja, 200 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Lisbon carrying just its pilots and crew.