US citizens were preparing to escape from Wuhan on Tuesday night on the first evacuation flight to leave the centre of China’s coronavirus outbreak. But thousands of foreigners from other countries remain trapped in the stricken city. They include football coaches, airline pilots, teachers and students who had found a home in the central Chinese city as its economy boomed. Divyank Parekh, a 20-year-old student, said he was one of about 50 Indian students who remained in the dormitories at Wuhan University School of Medicine.
“We’re very worried because we see people getting ill around us,” said Mr Parekh. “We’ve called the Indian [consulate] hotline many times but they told us to wait. We don’t know how much longer it will take for them to help us.” if Hubei is home to tens of thousands of long-term foreign workers and students. Many have been unable to leave after the local government closed the airport, public transport and road links last week in an attempt to contain the virus. Officials have given no indication of when the measures will be lifted.
So far, the US, Japan, France and South Korea are the only countries to have confirmed timings for flights to evacuate citizens by air. The EU confirmed an evacuation for “over 100” citizens, and later on Tuesday announced that France would handle the evacuation of all EU citizens. France said its citizens would be held in quarantine after being repatriated. Japanese citizens will be medically examined before boarding the evacuation flight and will be asked to monitor their health for two weeks after their return.
Other countries, including Britain, Australia, Germany and Italy, have said they plan evacuations, but have not provided any details. Expatriates have been calling their embassies and consulates for information but have been frustrated by the response. “We have not had any specific information on evacuation. It has been a very difficult time,” said Guiseppe, an Italian national who works at a ceramics company in Wuhan.