Plane en route to evacuate NZealanders from Wuhan

A New Zealand government plane is on its way to the virus-stricken Chinese city of Wuhan to evacuate New Zealanders there, officials said Tuesday.

The plane is due to return to Auckland on Wednesday afternoon, according to Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, New Zealand's director-general of health.

A total of 263 people have registered for the flight, Bloomfield told reporters in Wellington.Bloomfield said that when the flight returns it will land at a special gate and passengers will be taken directly to a military facility where they'll be quarantined for two weeks.

The Air New Zealand Boeing 777 was chartered by the New Zealand government.Bloomfield said the majority of the people who have signed up for the flight are New Zealand citizens or residents, with others coming from Australia and the Pacific Islands.There have been no confirmed cases of the virus in New Zealand.

(Image Credit: AP)