Countries evacuating nationals from China coronavirus areas

World+Biz

Reuters
11 February, 2020, 01:30 pm
Last modified: 11 February, 2020, 01:42 pm
A growing number of countries around the world are evacuating or planning to evacuate diplomatic staff and citizens from parts of China hit by the new coronavirus

A growing number of countries around the world are evacuating or planning to evacuate diplomatic staff and citizens from parts of China hit by the new coronavirus.

Following are some countries' evacuation plans, and how they aim to manage the health risk from those who are returning.

- Ukraine is preparing to evacuate its citizens from Wuhan on February 11 by special charter plane to Kiev, the country's embassy in China said on February 10. Returning citizens would be put into mandatory quarantine for two weeks.

- A second evacuation flight is bringing back another 174 Singaporeans and their family members from Wuhan to the city-state on February 9, Singapore's foreign ministry said.

- Thirty Filipinos returned to the Philippines on February 9 from Wuhan, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. The returning passengers and a 10-member government team will be quarantined for 14 days.

- Britain's final evacuation flight from Wuhan, carrying more than 200 people, landed at a Royal Air Force base in central England on February 9. A plane carrying 83 British and 27 European Union nationals from Wuhan landed in Britain last week.

- Two planes with about 300 passengers, mostly US citizens, took off from Wuhan on February 6 bound for the United States - the third group of evacuees from the heart of the coronavirus outbreak, the US State Department said.

- Uzbekistan has evacuated 251 people from China and quarantined them on arrival in Tashkent, the Central Asian nation's state airline said on February 6.

- A plane load of New Zealanders, Australians and Pacific Islanders evacuated from Wuhan arrived in Auckland, New Zealand on February 5, officials said.

- Taiwan has evacuated the first batch of an estimated 500 Taiwanese stranded in Wuhan.

- The 34 Brazilians evacuated from Wuhan landed in Brazil on February 9, where they will begin 18 days of quarantine.

- Italy flew back 56 nationals from Wuhan to Rome on February 3. The group will spend two weeks in quarantine in a military hospital, the government said.

- Saudi Arabia has evacuated 10 students from Wuhan, Saudi state television reported on February 2.

- Indonesia's government flew 243 Indonesians from Hubei on February 2 and placed them under quarantine at a military base on an island northwest of Borneo.

- South Korea flew 368 people home on a charter flight that arrived on January 31. A second chartered flight departed Seoul for Wuhan on January 31, with plans to evacuate around 350 more South Korean citizens.

- Japan chartered a third flight to repatriate Japanese people, which arrived from Wuhan on January 31, bringing the number of repatriated nationals to 565.

- Kazakhstan, which previously evacuated 83 people from Wuhan, will send two planes to China on February 10 and February 12 to evacuate its citizens. Out of 719 Kazakhs remaining in China, 391 have asked to be repatriated.

- Spain's government is working with China and the European Union to repatriate its nationals.

- Canada evacuated its first group of 176 citizens from Wuhan to an Ontario air force base early on February 5, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper. The country's foreign minister said a second group should arrive later on February 5 after changing planes in Vancouver. All evacuees will be quarantined on the base for two weeks.

- Russia said it would begin moving its citizens out of China via its Far Eastern region on February 1, regional authorities said. It plans to evacuate more than 600 Russian citizens currently in Hubei, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said. A first Russian military plane took off on February 4 to evacuate Russian citizens from Wuhan, the RIA news agency reported.

- The Netherlands is preparing the voluntary evacuation of 20 Dutch nationals and their families from Hubei, Foreign Minister Stef Blok said. The Netherlands is finalizing arrangements with EU partners and Chinese authorities.

- France has evacuated some nationals from Wuhan and said it would place the passengers in quarantine. It said it would first evacuate nationals without symptoms and then those showing symptoms at a later, unspecified date.

- Swiss authorities said they hope to have about 10 citizens join the French evacuation of nationals from China.

- A plane brought 138 Thai nationals home from Wuhan last week. They will spend two weeks in quarantine.

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