Don’t rush to evacuate your citizens – Chinese Embassy tells Ghana
The Chinese Embassy in Accra, is advising against any rush of panic to evacuate Ghanaian students in Wuhan, Hubei province, the epicenter of the flu-like virus – Covid-19.
Dr. Zhou Yuehan, Spokesman of the Embassy, in a press statement sent to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the students were more likely to become infected during their evacuation.
Besides, the medical facilities in China were better compared with those in many other countries.
Added to that, is the valuable experiences gained in their battle against the SARS epidemic.
The advice comes amid an appeal by Ghanaian students in Wuhan and the largest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for their evacuation.
Dr. Zhou said: “China attaches great importance to the health and safety of all foreign nationals in Wuhan, Hubei province.
“We have taken effective measures to timely respond to their reasonable concerns and requests.
“I want to stress that, if there is a suspected illness, the person will receive timely and quality treatment in Wuhan.
He said they understood the anxiety – unease among parents and students in Wuhan and gave the assurance that, everything was being done to make sure that the students have sufficient access to medical care and daily necessities.
“The government has pledged efforts to sustain continuous supply of necessities to the virus-stricken areas.”
There are also more hospitals for the treatment of pneumonia caused by the Covid-19, in Wuhan, and other places in China – an effective national response programme is in place.
He mentioned the distribution of free masks and personal sterilization equipment to the students, free meals just downstairs of their dormitories with the university supermarkets delivering supplies of daily use to the dormitory as long as the students placed an order online.
Additionally, the universities have been doing routine inspection and monitoring of the temperature of all students, every day and they had also opened a 24-hour English speaking service hotline for the foreigners.
Any student feeling unwell, is quickly attended to – the authorities would respond immediately and arrange to get medical treatment for them.
Ghana Government has released $250,000 to support the students in the Covid-19 stricken city of Wuhan.
More than 59,000 cases of the virus infection have been confirmed in China with the death toll passing 1,300.
Source: GNA