China's civil aviation authority is stepping up measures to prevent novel coronavirus cases from being imported from other virus-hit nations via international flights, as the outbreak slows within the country but picks up speed across the world.

China Southern Airlines, the largest airline by fleet size in Asia, plans to resume international passenger flights to a number of regions starting on Friday, with demand to Australia and New Zealand becoming robust.

Airline pilot Fabio Andre De Carli, 53, finally returned to Wuhan, Hubei province, to join his family on Feb 15-25 days after he left the city for work.

About 400 people from Taiwan who have been struck in Hubei province due to the novel coronavirus outbreak will take arranged flights to return to the island from Wuhan, the outbreak center, the provincial Taiwan affairs office of Hubei said on Tuesday.

In order to prevent and control spread of COVID-19 and to further refine the prevention and protection of medical staff working at airports and on-site emergency response measures, the third edition of the Preventing Spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Guideline for Airports Technical Guidance is developed based on amendment of previous edition.

The 10,000 face masks donated by Xiamen Airlines reached Seoul airport in South Korea on Sunday to help South Korean counterparts fight against the novel coronavirus.

China's civil aviation authority rolled out a series of measures to bail out airlines hit hard by the novel coronavirus outbreak and restore much-needed connectivity with the rest of the world.

HNA Group, which turned to the Hainan provincial government for assistance, has become the largest enterprise in the province after the takeover. The company said it would continue to launch new domestic and international flights connecting other cities with Haikou and Sanya in the province.

China will increase infrastructure investment and cut corporate costs in the civil aviation industry as part of efforts to foster stable growth of the sector, the Civil Aviation Administration said Monday.

On March 9, 2020, Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) issued a series of support policies to promote stable development of the civil aviation industry.