The Chinese government is giving permission to Australia's Wiseway Logistics to carry out the first humanitarian aid cargo flight to Wuhan City, epicenter of the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.

The death toll is 1,873, all but five in the Wuhan area.  The global total of confirmed infections is more than 73,325.  And almost half of China's population of 1.3 billion are living under varying degrees of travel restrictions and other quarantine measures.

Wiseway will run the first direct flight from Sydney to Wuhan since the coronavirus outbreak, and is currently Australian manufacturers to donate any products which may be helpful to assist in fighting the outbreak.  The first flight will depart Sydney sometime in between Saturday, 22 February and Tuesday, 25 Feb.

"The donations include much-needed protective clothing for healthcare professionals, including surgical and N95 masks, along with medical equipment, decontamination products, and medications," said Florence Lee, managing director of Wiseway Logistics.  "This Monday we collected 25 tonnes of goods but have capacity for 100 tonnes.  We will facilitate and welcome more donations," she added.

The need is great among the 200,000 frontline healthcare workers battling the outbreak.  They've suffered more than 1,700 infections and six deaths, largely due to the lack of proper protective clothing.  Wiseway is accepting donations at its warehouses in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, and Auckland through Friday midday.

There will be no passengers on the flight and the pilots will not leave the aircraft when it reaches Wuhan.  Humanitarian aid teams already on the ground there will off load the cargo.