The Chinese Air Force flew transport aircraft carrying 947 military medical personnel and 74 tons of medical supplies, which arrived at Wuhan Tianhe Airport yesterday in the first such deployment of a systematic, large-scale emergency airlift mission using these oversized freight carriers.

The Air Force dispatched three types of these planes, the Y-20, Il-76, and Y-9, which took off from Urumqi, Shenyang, Xining, Tianjin, Zhangjiakou, Chengdu, and Chongqing airports.

China's self-developed Y-20 large transport aircraft is taking part in a non-wartime military operation for the first time.

Chinese Air Force transporters bring military medics and supplies to the stricken Hubei province capital of Wuhan, which is at the heart of the epidemic.

Editor: Ben Armour