(Bloomberg) -- British Airways took the most dramatic step yet among global carriers in response to the deadly coronavirus outbreak, saying it will halt flights to China for a month.

The U.K. operator will cease services linking London with Beijing and Shanghai up to and including Feb. 29, it said in a statement Thursday, adding that the move follows Foreign Office advice against “all but essential travel.”

While a host of international airlines have been suspending or paring back operations to China, BA’s action goes further and indicates the heightening levels of concern as the virus death toll rises above 170 and confirmed cases in the Asian nation soar past 7,700.

BA’s Spanish sister company Iberia, also part of the IAG SA group, has likewise suspended flights to Shanghai through February. Like Beijing, the city is hundreds of kilometers from the focus on the viral outbreak around Wuhan in the central Hubei province.

The World Health Organization also plans to provide an update later Thursday on whether it regards the outbreak as a “public health emergency of international concern.”

A so-called PHEIC gives the WHO authority to recommend travel advisories for cities, regions and countries, which might have implications for those airlines still providing significant links to China.

Gulf operators Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways provide vital links to China via their vast transfer hubs, with 160 flights a week there, including Hong Kong, and have so far kept their schedules intact.

Emirates, the world’s largest long-haul airline, gets a third of revenue from East Asia, including Australasia, and has been looking to add many more Chinese destinations to tap “extraordinary” growth in demand, President Tim Clark said last year.

Among other major carriers, Deutsche Lufthansa AG is suspending services to China until Feb. 9, as is Scandinavian operator SAS AB, which will also freeze ticket sales until Feb. 29.

Reuters reported that Air France cabin crew have demanded that it stop flying to there amid fears that they may be exposed to the virus. The company said reduced services will continue for now.

Other carriers adjusting their schedules include:

  • Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. said it would cut capacity to China by 50% or more through March.
  • Delta Air Lines Inc.: Cutting service to China in half to 21 flights a week, from Feb. 6 through April 30.
  • American Airlines Group Inc.: Suspending flights between Los Angeles and Shanghai and Beijing from Feb. 9 through March 27.
  • United Airlines Holdings Inc.: Reducing service to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
  • KLM: Air France’s Dutch sister unit is suspending direct flights to Chengdu and Hangzhou as of Thursday, reducing the number of weekly flights to Shanghai to seven from 11 times a week, and halting direct flights to Xiamen as of Jan. 30.
  • Air Canada: Suspending flights to Beijing and Shanghai from Jan. 30 until Feb. 29.
  • ANA Holdings Co.: Flights to Japan from China have been halved. “We don’t know how long or severe this will be,” Executive Vice President Ichiro Fukuzawa said at an earnings news conference.
  • Korean Air Lines Co.: Suspending flights to Wuhan through March 27. From Feb. 2 to 22, it will also halt flights on seven routes, including Incheon-Huangshan and Busan-Beijing, and reduce services on five, including Incheon-Beijing and Busan-Shanghai.

Almost 11% of flights scheduled to or from China were scrapped between Jan. 23 and Jan. 28, according to research from Cirium, which analyzes air travel.

--With assistance from John Lauerman.

To contact the reporters on this story: Siddharth Philip in London at sphilip3@bloomberg.net;Layan Odeh in Dubai at lodeh3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, Christopher Jasper, Andrew Noël

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