Charter flights offered to thousands of Chinese tourists stranded in Bali after Indonesia halted flights over coronavirus fears have been delayed because travel permits have yet to be approved, Jakarta said Friday.

A diplomatic notice said Beijing was arranging flights for Friday back to Wuhan — the epicentre of the deadly outbreak which has killed over 600 people and spread around the world.

Many of the marooned tourists are from the stricken city and surrounding Hubei province, the consulate had said.