BEIJING — China organized three charter flights and brought back 310 Hubei residents on Jan 31, following the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, capital of China's Hubei province, the Foreign Ministry said on Feb 1.

According to the ministry, these Hubei residents were respectively brought back from Thailand's Bangkok, Malaysia's state of Sabah and Japan's Tokyo.

Due to the pneumonia outbreak caused by the novel coronavirus, some Chinese citizens from Hubei province, especially those from Wuhan city, have encountered difficulties coming back home from overseas.

The Chinese government on Jan 31 announced that it would send charter flights to bring these residents directly back home as soon as possible.