67 Ugandan students stranded in coronavirus-stricken Wuhan in China

At least 67 Ugandan students are stranded in the coronavirus-stricken Chinese city of Wuhan, Nile Post has learnt.

Wuhan is the center of the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus that has according to Chinese health authorities claimed lives of 170 people with over 7,711 confirmed cases in China as of 29, January 2020.

In a conversation with Nile Post, Thomas Kanzira, a Ugandan medical student in Wuhan said that 67 Ugandans are currently stranded in Wuhan with no communication from the Ugandan Embassy in China.

Kanzira told Nile Post that the a representative from the Ugandan Embassy in China sent them a message and told them to follow guidelines that were issued by the Chinese government.

“We have not yet received any official communication from the Ugandan Embassy here. A representative sent us a message in one of our groups telling us to follow the Chinese guidelines and we are basically on our own,” Kanzira told Nile Post.

Nile Post has however established that the virus had infected none of the Ugandan students in China at the time of compiling this report. These are however living fear and panic.

Robert Tomusange, the leader of Ugandan students in China said that they have been to get some help from their universities, which offered them free facemasks and had carried several temperature checks.

Uganda has over 400 students in China and only 67 of these study and live in Wuhan which is currently being heavily quarantined at the moment.

This reporter’s efforts to contact the Embassy of Uganda in China for a comment proved futile as the emails went unanswered.

The Ambassador of Uganda to China, Crispus Kiyonga was also out of reach by the time of compiling this report.

WAY FORWARD

By Wednesday, January 29, 2020 authorities in China had put in place hotlines to help foreigners living in Wuhan city to access help. According to a statement that has been accessed by this website, the hotlines are 1598949096 and 18086457179.

According to BBC, There has also been several other voluntary evacuations of hundreds of foreign nationals from Wuhan to help people who want to leave the closed off city and return to their countries.

These will however stay quarantined for two weeks in order to be monitored.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom announced that they would meet on Thursday afternoon to decide on whether the situation constitutes a global health emergency.

UGANDA GOVERNMENT SPEAKS OUT

The government of Uganda through the Ministry of Health issued a statement on Wednesday afternoon where they noted that they had met with Chinese Medical Team in Uganda and resolved that Chinese and Ugandan nationals in China should delay their return and those in Uganda should be stopped from travelling to China until the situation is under control.

The ministry also noted that they are also working with the National Task Force and the Civil Aviation Authority to coordinate preparedness and response activities and making sure that all airport staff are aware about the risk of the virus.