340 Bangladeshis ready to return home from China's Wuhan, 31 don’t

Some 340 Bangladeshis, including 19 children, have registered with the local Bangladesh embassy to be evacuated from the Coronavirus-hit Wuhan town, situated in China's Hubei province.

The Bangladeshis living in the region have prepared a list or returnees and submitted to the Bangladesh Embassy in Beijing on Thursday.

The list also has names of 31 Bangladeshis who do not want to return from China despite the virus outbreak.

Jannatun Nahar (Liza), a PhD student of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, expressed her unwillingness to return Bangladesh. 

Opposing the current evacuation plan, she said, "We are not briefed any plans regarding the prevention system of the deadly coronavirus in Bangladesh."

She said, "The recent detection system like thermal scanning which is available at the airport in Bangladesh is insufficient to detect the virus."

After research on coronavirus, I came to know that the incubation period of this virus is 14 to 16 days within which a person can carry and spread the virus to others, added Nahar.  

The people leaving China, with coronavirus infection in the period, are likely to spread the virus to their families and countries as it is unlikely to be detected in incubation period at the airport, she opined.

None of the countries like USA, Japan is allowing their citizens, who are being evacuated from Wuhan, to merge into their local population. 

"I'm not sure that I'm affected or not, so, I can't go back home that may put my family and country at risks," she said.    

Moreover, at present, Wuhan has the best treatment facility in the world right and world class doctors are working relentlessly here, opined the Bangladeshi scholar. 

As for foreigners, we get safety equipment, food and drinking water in each dormitory for free and the university authority is taking a great care of us. 

Besides, the treatment is announced as free if any student is infected with coronavirus. So I don't feel discomfort, and don't find logic to risk my family and country by returning."

However, another student Mehedi Hasan of Hubei University of Technology in Wuhan said they are running out of food, water and masks. There is no arrangement to take care of their health. 

One of the teachers, who looks after the foreign students in the university, underscored on leaving this place, said Mehedi. 

"A total of 125 Bangladeshi students are now blocked here.  The only solution is to bring us back," he added. 

Another student Abdullah Al Fahim from Central China Normal University said, "We are under lockdown for a week, and not going out if not emergency. As we are not sure about the next situation, I think we should go back to Bangladesh." 

Bangladesh Embassy assured us to send us back home in special arrangement. We are waiting for its implementation, he added. 

Meanwhile, Dr Md Reza Sultanuzzaman, an assistant professor in Nanchang University in Chaina's Jiangxi, lives in Wuhan as his wife, Sharmin Akther, is studying at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST). 

Reza said, he along with other Bangladeshi people have been coordinating Wuhan community where 371 Bangladeshi people have been stranded.  

"We are cooperating our Bangladesh embassy to evacuate all of us, and Bangladesh is working for receiving permission from Chinese Foreign Ministry to bring its citizens back," Reza added.  

Besides, we also talked with all universities here to arrange transportation to Wuhan Tianhe International Airport. Universities are waiting for Chinese approval for our evacuation through the embassy.

The embassy said they will get permission soon from Chinese authority to evacuate us, said Reza.

China has already asked Bangladesh Embassy in Beijing about what type of aircraft Bangladesh will send to take the citizens back, said Khairul Bashar, first secretary of Bangladesh Embassy in the country.

Earlier on Sunday, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said, "Following the instructions of the prime minister to bring Bangladeshi citizens back, who are willing to return to the country, the government has made all arrangements, including arranging a C-130 flight to airlift them."