There's now a $186 flight from Hong Kong to New York – with a 6-hour stopover in Wuhan
Cheap flights from Hong Kong to New York have emerged amid the global coronavirus outbreak. Booking website Kayak found a plane ticket for $186 with one caveat: a six-hour layover in the airport of Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak.
A search on Friday spotted a China Southern Airlines flight leaving on May 20 from Hong Kong and arriving at John F. Kennedy airport in New York for $186. The stopover at Wuhan Tianhe International airport is six hours and thirty-five minutes.
The flight was first reported by Bloomberg. At the time of its report, the trip cost $193.
It's not the only cheap ticket. Another Hong Kong to New York flight, on May 6, is available – with a Wuhan stop – for $201, according to Kayak.
Wuhan has been on lockdown in an effort to contain the coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the central Chinese city. Just one day before China's massive Lunar New Year holiday earlier this month, every mode of transportation out of Wuhan was coming to a halt, including flights and railways, and local bus and subway services.
It is unclear what the situation for flights to and from Wuhan will look like in May, and the price of the $186 flight could fluctuate. As of Friday, many airlines throughout the world had halted all flights to and from mainland China.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong's regional government said Tuesday all rail and ferry links with mainland China would be halted starting Thursday. Chief Executive Carrie Lam said flights would also be reduced.
By Friday morning, the flu-like virus had killed at least 213 people, all of them in China. Almost 9,900 people are infected there, with about 130 cases in 22 other countries. The U.S. has six confirmed cases of the virus.
The State Department has warned Americans to avoid all travel to China due to the "rapidly spreading" coronavirus outbreak. The decision came after the World Health Organization designated the outbreak a global public health emergency in an attempt to get more resources and increase international coordination to fight it.
