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Indonesians trapped in virus-hit Hubei told to prepare for evacuation, student says
According to the Foreign Ministry, 243 Indonesians currently live in the quarantined zone, with around 100 of them residing in Wuhan.
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A man wearing protective clothes is seen next a car on a street in Wuhan, in Hubei province on January 29, 2020. (AFP/Hector Retamal)
T
he head of the Indonesian Student Association in China (PPIT) at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Khoirul Umam Hasbiy, has said that Indonesians in Hubei province, China, have been asked by the Indonesian government to be prepared for evacuation out of the area where the novel coronavirus outbreak emerged.
"We hope that the evacuation and cooperation by the Indonesian Embassy in China, the Foreign Ministry, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency and the Indonesian Air Force goes well," Khoirul said in a statement on Thursday.
Khoirul said he did not know yet when exactly he and other Indonesians in some of the locked-down cities of Hubei, including Wuhan – the epicenter of the fast-spreading virus – would be airlifted from the area. However, he said the Indonesian Embassy in China had asked them to prepare their travel documents.
"We were asked to prepare our passports, parents’ permission slips and other administrative documents," he said.
According to the Foreign Ministry, 243 Indonesians currently live in the quarantined zone, with around 100 of them residing in Wuhan.
There are 12 Indonesian students at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
Read also: Don't compare us with other countries, govt says of Wuhan evacuation
The Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that officials were finalizing plans to evacuate Indonesian citizens from the virus-stricken province as they intensified communication with the Chinese government so that the latter could facilitate the repatriation process.
The Indonesian Air Force has prepared three aircraft – two Boeing 737 and an Indonesian military C-130 Hercules aircraft – and health personnel are on standby to airlift Indonesian citizens in Hubei. The aircraft have the capacity to transport over 200 people.
"We are now waiting for confirmation from the Foreign Ministry [...] to decide whether or not we can go. But the Air Force is ready 24/7 to fly," Fajar said on Wednesday.
The Chinese government has imposed lockdowns on at least 13 cities in Hubei province, including Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus was first identified on Dec. 31, 2019, in an attempt to contain the fast-spreading pneumonia-like virus.
As of Thursday, the coronavirus has killed at least 170 people in China and more than 7,000 cases have been confirmed globally, mostly in the mainland, AFP reported. Indonesia has no confirmed cases to date. (ami)
