Turkey evacuates citizens from China’s Wuhan amid virus outbreak

ANKARA

(AA Photo)

Turkey is set to evacuate 32 of its citizens and their families from China’s Hubei State, primarily in Wuhan city, the epicenter of a new virus outbreak, in the coming days, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a written statement on Jan. 29.

“We are in contact with all of our citizens. We have 32 citizens in Wuhan. We had previously made official initiations [and now] started efforts to evacuate our 32 citizens. None of our citizens have been detected to have any connection with the virus,” Turkey’s Ambassador to China Emin Önen told private broadcaster NTV.

“We are organizing this with Chinese officials. Our citizens will arrive in Turkey with specialists via an air ambulance from Turkey,” he added.

The ambassador also said that some kind of quarantine will be implemented at first, although none of the Turkish citizens have been infected as far as officials know.

“A procedure will be implemented both for their and the country’s health. We have 6,000 citizens in China and are in contact with consulate generals,” he said.

He also added that the embassy has formed a chat group on a social media app of China in order to establish close contact with the citizens.

Turkish citizens who visited China for touristic or business purposes already established contact with the embassy, Önen said.

According to the figures the ambassador provided, over 6,000 people have detected to be infected and more than 44,000 are in quarantine. He stressed that no Turkish citizen is known to be infected by the mysterious virus.
At this phase, quarantine conditions are being implemented in China’s many states, metropolises and Wuhan. Transportation by bus is halted,” he said.

Önen also added that exaggerated information spreading in Turkey is causing panic and are not valid.

“There are a lot of exaggerated misinformation [posted] on some social media accounts in Turkey which will cause panic among the public,” he said.