KOTA KINABALU, Jan 31 — A total 123 tourists from Hubei, China flew home on a Xiamen Airlines chartered flight from the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) today at 6.30pm.

They boarded the chartered flight at the initiative of the government of China after the government cancelled all flights from Wuhan, China following the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak.

The president of the Malaysia-China Friendship Association (Ma-Zhong) of Sabah, Oh Ei Sun, said he was informed that the group of tourists were in Kota Kinabalu since January 23.

‘‘They could not go back to China after the temporary cancellation of all flights from this country to Wuhan prior to this and all flights to China from KKIA since yesterday following the virus infection,’’ he told Bernama after sending off the group of tourists at KKIA.

He said the association was unaware of the number of tourists from China who were still in the state, but was prepared to give the aid needed for the business of flying them home.

There were 10 direct flights from Wuhan to KKIA a week, namely, seven flights managed by AirAsia and three by Malindo Air. — Bernama