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China willing to facilitate evacuation of Indonesians from Hubei: Minister
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Security personnel holds samples of protective clothes to avoid a SARS-like virus at Mutiara SIS Al Jufri Airport in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Jan. 29. Asian nations started ramping up defenses against a deadly viral epidemic on Jan. 28, sealing borders, shuttering public places and clamping down on visitors from China. (AFP/Muhammad Rifki )
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ndonesia will soon evacuate its citizens from the virus-hit Hubei province in China as the Chinese government has said it is ready to facilitate the evacuations, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said on Thursday.
Retno said Indonesia was carrying out intense and detailed coordination with Chinese authorities so that the evacuees could be repatriated soon amid lockdown in Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province -- the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed 170.
“We have coordinated [with China] and they are willing to facilitate us in the evacuations,” Retno told journalists in Jakarta.
Approximately 243 Indonesians are trapped in Hubei.
Retno said she was in close contact with her counterpart from neighboring Australia, which also planned to evacuate its citizens.
The Indonesian mission in China also continues to communicate with the United States and Japan -- the first two countries to fly their citizens out of the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
"We need to learn from each other on how to evacuate our citizens as soon as possible," Retno said, adding that evacuations were not simple and that the government needed to look into the distribution of Indonesians in Hubei and how to transport them amid lockdown.
The Air Force is keeping three aircraft and health personnel on standby to evacuate Indonesian citizens from Hubei at any time, awaiting instructions from the government. The government has also prepared Sulianto Saroso Hospital in North Jakarta to be used as a quarantine facility to observe the inbound citizens once they arrive in Indonesia.
Retno said any measures to handle evacuees upon their return to Indonesia or whether to quarantine them are in the hands of the Health Ministry and relevant authorities. She said the government would discuss the details of the evacuation plan this afternoon.
Foreign Ministry acting spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said earlier that Indonesia had two options — evacuating its citizens from Hubei and moving them to safer quarantine areas inside China or sending them back and quarantining them at home.
Retno said Jakarta was also coordinating with the Indonesian Students Association in Hubei to ensure Indonesians were able to access basic necessities amid price increases. “At least the supply will be enough for the next seven days.”
China reported its biggest single-day jump in novel coronavirus deaths on Thursday, as confirmation that three Japanese evacuated from the outbreak's epicenter were infected deepened fears about a global contagion, AFP reported.
The number of confirmed new cases in China also grew steadily to 7,711, the National Health Commission said. Another 81,000 people were under observation for possible infection.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned all governments to be "on alert" as it weighed whether to declare a global health emergency. WHO's Emergency Committee will meet Thursday to decide whether to declare an emergency -- which could lead to travel or trade barriers. (asp/eyc)
