By Cindi Cook
PARIS (AA) - France dispatched a plane to China early Thursday to bring back approximately 250 French and European nationals from the epicenter of novel coronavirus.
The plane took off Roissy Airport at 4 a.m. local time (4000GMT).
People will be evacuated from fatal coronavirus-hit China as a precautionary measure against the spreading disease.
On Wednesday, Health Minister Agnes Buzyn announced the fifth case infected with the new virus. She is the daughter of the fourth victim carrying the disease symptoms.
Buzyn said those being retrieved are nationals who do not exhibit symptoms, but they will be kept in isolation for 14 days under close medical supervision.
The cases reported in France so far include a 48-year-old Frenchman with Chinese origin in Bordeaux, and four people in Paris: Chinese couple in their 30s, a 31-year-old Chinese tourist, and his daughter. One of them is under intensive care. Those in Paris are in isolation at the Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital.
The patients had all traveled to Wuhan, the capital city of central Hubei province, China, where the new coronavirus broke out. The disease has been spreading across the world.
According to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, the disease has claimed 170 lives, some 7,780 cases of the illness have been reported worldwide.
A second plane will be dispatched from France "tomorrow or the day after tomorrow" to repatriate French citizens as well as other European nationals, Buzyn said.
The WHO Emergency Committee will also reconvene on Thursday to assess the situation.
The committee is expected to decide whether the outbreak constitutes a global health emergency and present recommendations to manage its spread.