Biodun.BBC

Thursday, January 30, 2020

BREAKING: China to bring overseas Wuhan citizens back to virus-hit city

Issued on: 31/01/2020 - 06:32Modified: 31/01/2020 - 08:31 GMT/ZULU

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Beijing

China is to send charter planes to bring citizens of virus-hit Wuhan city home from overseas "as soon as possible", the foreign ministry said Friday.

The move comes as a number of airlines announced they were halting or reducing flights to China as the country struggles to contain the spread of a deadly new virus.

Beijing has advised its citizens to postpone trips abroad and cancelled overseas group tours, while several countries including the US, Germany, Britain and Japan have urged their citizens to avoid travel to China.

"In view of the practical difficulties that Chinese citizens from Hubei, especially Wuhan, have faced overseas, the Chinese government has decided to send charter flights to take them directly back to Wuhan as soon as possible," said ministry of foreign affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

Wuhan -- where authorities have identified a market selling wild animals for food as the epicentre of the outbreak -- has experienced an unprecedented lockdown in a bid to stop the virus spreading.

The topic was trending online on Friday, with over 35 million views and 15,000 discussion posts on China's Twitter-like platform Weibo.

"These people probably don't want to go back (to Wuhan)," said one.

Another questioned if they should be brought back if they were not infected.

When asked about the suspension of international flights at a press conference on Thursday, Zhu Tao of China's Civil Aviation Administration said authorities were coordinating arrangements to bring travellers home.

Hospitals have been overwhelmed in the city. AFP reporters saw long queues at hospitals, with some patients saying they queued for two days to see a doctor.

As fears of the outbreak have spread overseas, prominent figures in Chinese communities in Italy warned this week of episodes of "latent racism" against their compatriots by Italians fearful of catching the virus.

ANALYSIS: Chinese communities warn of Italy 'racism' over virus

Issued on: 31/01/2020 - 04:40Modified: 31/01/2020 - 07:38 GMT/ZULU

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Rome

by Elodie Bagnol and Biodun Iginla, France24 News Analysts

Prominent figures in Chinese communities in Italy warned Thursday of episodes of "latent racism" against their compatriots by Italians fearful of catching a deadly viral outbreak.

Tensions increased after some 7,000 people were held on a cruise ship in an Italian port following the isolation of two Chinese passengers over fears they could be carrying the coronavirus, despite preliminary tests coming up negative.

Italian newspapers have reported cases of bullying or discrimination against Chinese people following the outbreak of the disease, which has now killed 170 in China and has spread abroad, with at least 15 countries confirming infections.

"It's extremely unpleasant, absurd, and infuriating," Francesco Wu, a member of the Italian Business Association Confcommercio, often called on to speak for the 30,000-strong Chinese community in Milan, told La Stampa daily.

Racist episodes reportedly included Chinese tourists being spat at in Venice, a family in Turin being accused of carrying the disease, and mothers in Milan using social media to call for Italian children to be kept away from Chinese classmates.

"It's totally unjustified and it hurts even more because it involves children. It's a mix of ignorance and latent racism," Wu said.

Local health officials have sent the schools concerned a letter stating that "there is no need to introduce measures restricting the presence of Chinese children within school communities," according to AGI.

There were some 300,000 Chinese living in Italy at the end of 2018, according to the National Statistics Institute (Istat).

Italy has not had any confirmed cases of the virus.

Despite that, Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala said Chinese tourism -- worth some 300 million euros ($331,000) a month to the city between hotels, shopping and restaurants -- was down 40 percent compared to before the virus.

Chinese journalist Hu Lanbo, who has lived in Italy for 30 years and who runs the "China in Italy" monthly, published an open letter "to Italian friends".

"Believing that one can catch the new coronavirus at the mere sight of a Chinese person really makes no sense," she said.