The airline halted all bookings on its website for direct flights from London to Beijing and Shanghai until March, following the Foreign Office's unprecedented advice last night urging Britons not to travel to mainland China unless their visit is essential.
Flights to Hong Kong will continue - but passengers will have to use a different airline to head on to the Chinese mainland. It is not yet clear how BA will bring back its thousands of customers booked on flights to the UK from China over the coming weeks.
The coronavirus outbreak has killed 133 people across China and more than 6,000 around the world have caught the highly infectious pneumonia-like infection, with cases having risen dramatically in the past week.
A BA spokesman said: 'We apologise to customers for the inconvenience, but the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority. Customers due to travel to or from China in the coming days can find more information on BA.com.'
United Airlines, the biggest US carrier to China, has also announced it will be cutting 24 flights in near-term to China and the White House is said to be considering stopping all US-China flights completely to stop the virus spreading.
Culture Secretary Baroness Morgan said BA's decision to suspend all flights to China would give 'more impetus' to the Government's bid to arrange for Britons to travel home - amid growing pressure on British ministers to step up the landmark evacuation mission.
'The Foreign Office will be working with staff on the ground to identify UK nationals,' the Conservative peer told BBC Breakfast.
'We will get people home as soon as we can, as soon as we can make arrangements. 'Obviously, today's decision by British Airways provides more impetus to the Government to make other plans and communicate those.
'The health system is well prepared. We are not aware of any confirmed cases of the virus here in the UK but we do have the expertise to look after people, to treat and to test should that become necessary.'
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