A Ghanaian student residing at the epicentre of China’s coronavirus outbreak has pleaded with the Ghanaian government to repatriate Ghanaians from the city of Wuhan.
According to him, a lot of the students from sub-Saharan countries in Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei Province – feel abandoned by their governments given that North African countries such as Morocco and Egypt have airlifted their nationals on chartered flights.
There are an estimated 4,600 African students studying in the Hubei province where Wuhan has become the ground zero for the deadly virus’ spread, according to Development Reimagined, an international development consultancy in Beijing. However, there are also other African nationals resident in the Hubei province outside the academic community.
The student who gave his name as Michael told the BBC’s Newsday Programme that he has been in touch with the Ghanaian consular authorities in China who have told him that Ghanaians would not be evacuated.
Michael said he feels abandoned by the government and does not want to become a “global statistic”.
“…I think if this continues for like two weeks or one month this will be counter-productive, it will be disastrous and I wonder if this can be maintained after the Chinese New Year ends because we are getting hopeless, we see the numbers rising, that is why we are of the opinion that our government should come to our aid and take us out of here because we don’t want to become a global statistic…,” Michael said
“Yes, I have personally been in touch with the Ambassador and the Deputy Ambassador and other officials at the Embassy. They’ve told us they are in touch with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but then they are not going to evacuate us, we have to stay and adhere to the precautions”.
He said he was scared of the outcome, especially if China grounds all flights from the country to prevent the spread of the virus.
A number of countries have begun evacuating their diplomatic staff and citizens from parts of China hit by the coronavirus.
– France’s first plane to repatriate nationals from Wuhan left Paris on Wednesday and returns on Thursday. The flight will carry people with no symptoms, junior transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebarri told television channel CNews. “These people will be put under quarantine. And then there will be a second flight, at a yet undefined date, with people showing symptoms … who will be cared for in Paris,” he said.
– South Korea had planned four flights to evacuate its citizens from Wuhan. The first had been expected to depart on Thursday morning, but China had only approved one flight, leading to a delay until later in the day, South Korea’s foreign minister said. The government wants to isolate evacuees for at least two weeks.
