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Govt faces difficulties in getting aid to Indonesians in locked-down Wuhan
The Indonesian Embassy in China has been trying to deliver aid to Indonesians in the locked-down city of Wuhan and will continue to do so, according to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
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People wearing protective masks wait next to their suitcases at a railway station in Beijing on Monday. (AFP/Nicolas Asfouri)
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resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said the government was facing difficulties in helping Indonesian citizens trapped in the locked-down city of Wuhan, China, where the fast-spreading coronavirus first emerged.
“Some Indonesian students and other nationals are still in Wuhan. We are facing difficulties in sending logistical aid to them due to the virus outbreak,” he said in Surabaya on Monday.
The Indonesian Embassy in China had been trying to deliver aid to Indonesians in Wuhan and would continue to do so, but the President noted that they faced problems as ground zero of the virus was in a state of lockdown.
On Thursday last week, the Chinese government shut down travel into and out of Wuhan — a city of more than 11 million people in Hubei province — after the novel coronavirus had spread around the world, affecting thousands of people on four continents and killing more than 100 to date.
Based on data from the Wuhan branch of the Indonesian Students Association, an estimated 93 Indonesian citizens are trapped in the city — a majority of whom were students.
Indonesian Ambassador to China Djauhari Oratmangun said on Monday that the embassy continued to keep in touch with all Indonesian citizens living in the quarantined zone, Antara reported.
Djauhari expressed concern that Wuhan might soon experience food shortages, saying he had received information that stockpiles would only last five to six days.
“We will continue to supply [Indonesia citizens in Wuhan] with food before they run out [of stocks],” Djauhari said.
The Indonesian Embassy in China had set up a special post in the city of Changsha in Hubei’s neighboring Hunan province to ease the distribution of aid and supplies, he added.
So far, the Chinese government has imposed lockdowns on at least 13 cities to contain the spread of the virus in Hubei province, where about 243 Indonesians currently live in the quarantined zone. The Indonesian Foreign Ministry has said that all Indonesians there are in good condition.
As of Tuesday, the death toll from the novel coronavirus has risen to 106, with more than 4,000 cases confirmed in China, AFP reported.
The Indonesian Embassy in China provides four hotline numbers for information on the virus: +861065325489, +8613811284505, +8613146453974 and +8613552235327. (gis)
Editor's note: Paragraph 10 of this article has been edited.
