Civil Aviation Administration of China has approved several airlines' applications for charter flights to bring back travelers from Wuhan, Hubei province, who remained abroad due to the city's lockdown amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Staring from Jan 23, a number of airlines temporarily canceled their flights to and from Wuhan, the center of the new pneumonia outbreak, in the light of health concerns about the spread of the epidemic. The disease has sickened 7,711 and killed 170 on the Chinese mainland as of Wednesday midnight.

With a large number of tourists who had left the country prior to the cancelation still remaining abroad, the administration approved charter flight service of server carriers to help the tourists return home as soon as possible.

It also noted that the companies shall not refuse any passenger who has passed a health test from boarding the plane and shall keep a record of the crew member and passenger information.