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RI students leave Wuhan in droves before lockdown
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has said that, since December, about 90 percent of Indonesians studying in Wuhan have left the Chinese city, which is at the center of a mysterious virus outbreak
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span>Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has said that, since December, about 90 percent of Indonesians studying in Wuhan have left the Chinese city, which is at the center of a mysterious virus outbreak.
“According to the records from our embassy in Beijing, there were 428 Indonesian students in Wuhan, 1,280 in Beijing and 849 in Shanghai," Retno told reporters on Thursday.
"As of December 2019, 90 percent of the Indonesian students in Wuhan and its surroundings have returned to Indonesia because of the [Chinese New Year] holiday until mid-February."
The coronavirus, which bears similarities to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), was reportedly first detected on Dec. 31 in Wuhan and it has since been detected in Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.
China banned trains and planes from leaving Wuhan on Thursday, seeking to isolate its 11 million people to contain the contagious disease that has claimed 17 lives, infected hundreds and spread to other countries, AFP reported.
Authorities in Wuhan, a major transportation hub, also suspended public buses and subways and said residents should not leave "without a special reason".
More than 570 people have been infected with the virus across China — with most cases found in Wuhan, where a seafood market that illegally sold wild animals has been identified as the epicenter of the outbreak.
Retno said that Indonesia’s representatives in Beijing would continue to coordinate with universities in China.
"According to the embassy, there had been no reports of Indonesians infected by the virus in China," she said.
The chairman of the Indonesian Students Association in China, Fadlan Muzaki, said students who currently remained in China outside Wuhan had received an advisory alert from the embassy and were urged against traveling to Wuhan. They are also required to seek medical attention if they have pneumonia-like symptoms and are advised to avoid eating uncooked meat and avoid contact with live animals, especially poultry and birds.
Fadlan said some of those who opted not to return to Indonesia for the school holiday instead visited other cities in China.
“Some of them could not return to Wuhan because there is a travel lockdown, while those who are in Wuhan always wear masks everywhere," he told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Fadlan said the student association had also advised them to return to Indonesia if possible.
Hours after the Wuhan lockdown, authorities in neighboring Huanggang announced that public transport and train services would be suspended at midnight, while people were told to not leave the city of 7.5 million, AFP reported. A third city, 1.1 million-population Ezhou, announced the train station had been temporarily closed earlier in the day. In Beijing, the government canceled massive gatherings that usually attract throngs at temples during the New Year holiday.
The World Health Organization delayed on Wednesday a decision on whether to declare a global health emergency — a rare instrument used only for the worst outbreaks. The emergency committee was to meet again on Thursday, after experts were split over declaring a public health emergency, according to AFP.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said "more information" was needed but he also praised China's "very, very strong measures" that will help control the epidemic and "minimize the chances of this outbreak spreading internationally".
The outbreak has also created fears in Indonesia after reports of a suspected case emerged in Jakarta on Thursday.
Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto dismissed the reports after he paid a visit to the BRI building in Jakarta following reports that a Chinese employee of Chinese telecom giant Huawei, which has offices in the building, was suffering from a fever and taken to the hospital for diagnosis amid fears that the employee had been infected with the virus.
Singapore on Thursday confirmed its first case of the new strain of coronavirus, according to The Straits Times. The 66-year-old man, a Wuhan resident, arrived in Singapore with nine traveling companions on Monday and stayed at Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa resort, health officials said.
