Wuhan virus: Planeload of Wuhan residents leaves Singapore on Wednesday on Scoot flight

Passengers (left) waiting to check in at a designated but unmarked check-in counter at Changi Airport's Terminal 2, set up for people boarding a Scoot flight to Wuhan, on Jan 29, 2020. ST PHOTO: TOH TING WEI
A family is escorted by an auxiliary officer and another official to a waiting shuttle bus after checking in at the designated counter. ST PHOTO: TOH TING WEI

SINGAPORE - A Scoot flight took off from Changi airport on Wednesday night (Jan 29) with Wuhan residents who had been stranded in Singapore, after the budget airline cancelled all flights to the city in Hubei province on Jan 23.

A second Scoot flight is expected to leave on Thursday, carrying another group of residents from the Chinese city at the epicentre of the virus outbreak.

On Wednesday night, the passengers were taken to a designated but unmarked check-in counter at Terminal 2.

The Straits Times, standing several metres away, saw staff wearing surgical face masks - including three who also wore protective gear, with safety goggles and hair nets - serving them.

ST understands that after checking in, the passengers were taken straight to the gates to board the plane, a Boeing 787 aircraft.

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