The aircraft, operated by the Interforce Summit Operations Command, will depart from Italy on Thursday “once all the necessary authorisations have been obtained from the Chinese authorities”, according to the statement.
Specialist medical personnel, nurses and medical equipment will be on board the direct flight to Wuhan to ensure the Italians are transported back to Italy safely.
It did not say how many Italians would be airlifted out, or whether they would be placed in quarantine, though those transported home would have to follow “a protocol laid out by the health ministry”.
The flight is being organised by the Italian Foreign Ministry’s crisis unit, in close coordination with the Defence and Health ministries and Italy’s National Institute for Infectious Diseases, according to the statement.
Between 60 and 70 Italians are currently in Wuhan according to local media, though Italian dailies Il Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica said that not all of them wanted to be evacuated.
Citizens of several other countries have already been evacuated from Wuhan.
The previously unknown coronavirus has killed at least 132 people, infected thousands in China since mid-December and cases have been confirmed in 18 places outside China.
There have been no confirmed cases of the virus in Italy at the time of writing.
There have been a number of suspected cases, including in Pistoia, Bari, Parma, Lucca and Naples, but all tests have so far come back negative.
