SHANGHAI—The U.S. State Department said Sunday that it is organizing a single flight out of the central Chinese city of Wuhan, confirming efforts to extricate diplomats and a limited number of private U.S. citizens from the virus-hit city.
In an email to U.S. citizens in China, the State Department said a flight would leave Wuhan on Tuesday and fly to San Francisco. It invited U.S. citizens with a valid passport to contact the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Private citizens are expected to later repay the travel costs, the notice said.
“This capacity is extremely limited and if there is insufficient ability to transport everyone who expresses interest, priority will be given to individuals at greater risk from coronavirus,” the notice said.
It said the flight was tied to State Department arrangements to relocate its personnel from the U.S. consulate in Wuhan, which a person familiar with the matter said will be temporarily closed.
U.S. authorities believe that roughly 1,000 American citizens live in and around Wuhan, a sprawl of 11 million people with a manufacturing-based economy that includes a number of major American companies. Such an evacuation from China is unusual but reflects growing international alarm at the fast-spreading virus that first appeared in Wuhan late last year.
The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that the U.S. flight evacuation plan had been negotiated with China’s Foreign Ministry and other Chinese government agencies, citing a person familiar with the situation. The U.S. government also agreed to having medical workers aboard the plane to ensure that the evacuation effort doesn’t inadvertently further spread the virus and to accept responsibility for the risk of moving people who may be sick or carrying the disease.
Sunday’s four-sentence notice said nothing about what safety procedures, such as a possible quarantine, the passengers on the evacuation flight would be subject to after arriving in the U.S.. The flight is expected to carry mostly Americans and possibly a small number of other foreign nationals but no Chinese citizens.
China’s Foreign Ministry appeared to confirm the plan in a statement Sunday that said the U.S. requested a proposal to withdraw consular staff from Wuhan, though it didn’t mention a flight or nonofficial personnel. “In accordance with international practice and in accordance with relevant Chinese epidemic prevention regulations, China has made corresponding arrangements to provide necessary assistance,” the statement said.
China is taking unprecedented efforts to slow the spread of the little-understood virus. President Xi Jinping took charge on Saturday of a high-level steering committee to organize a centralized government response to the crisis, which has included tight controls on travel in and around Wuhan, as well as stepped-up medical attention there and a shutdown of public venues across the country.
Still, the coronavirus has spread, infecting at least 1,975 people in China and killing at least 56 as of Sunday morning, according to Chinese state media—the vast majority of them in Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province, but also in other cities, including an 88-year-old man who died in Shanghai over the weekend.
The U.S. evacuation flight from Wuhan’s Tianhe International Airport was initially planned for Sunday, but issues related to chartering the plane from the U.S. caused a delay. The jetliner is expected to be a Boeing 767 with about 230 seats.
Late last week, the State Department had ordered the departure of all nonemergency U.S. personnel and their family members from the Wuhan area and posted an alert on its website advising against travel to Hubei province, after Wuhan municipal authorities announced a citywide lockdown there.
A number of other foreign governments are also pursuing efforts to evacuate some of their citizens from the area by land or by air, according to people familiar with the matter.
Several Americans who are now in and around Wuhan, or who are in touch with their relatives there, said they are eager to be aboard the flight. The near-complete shutdown of Wuhan, including transportation into, out of and around the city, as well as other cities in Hubei province, has left them anxious for their personal safety.
Rhode Island residents Patrick Randy Stockstill, his wife and two children had traveled to Yichang, a city of about four million near the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei province and 200 miles west of Wuhan, to celebrate Lunar New Year with the extended family of Mr. Stockstill’s wife.
Mr. Stockstill, who had arrived in Yichang on Jan. 20 and was set to leave this coming Friday, said his family was very worried about his youngest son, who is 3 months old. Public transportation in Yichang has been shut down since Friday.
“We’re not looking for special treatment,” said the 38-year-old loan officer, who hasn’t stepped outside for four days for fear of getting infected by the virus. “We are just looking for a way to get my boy home.”
In a Sunday posting to its website about the evacuation flight plan, the State Department asked for basic contact details for anyone hoping to board the plane.
U.S. officials said they keep in touch with Americans abroad through a State Department program called, Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, or STEP.
According to an evacuee manifest and promissory note posted to its website, the State Department asks any participants in a government-arranged evacuation to provide basic identification information and to sign an agreement promising to repay the State Department for all expenses included in the evacuation within 30 days.
That includes the cost of an air ticket, whose price shouldn’t exceed the cost of a full-fare economy ticket.
Write to James T. Areddy at james.areddy@wsj.com and Liza Lin at Liza.Lin@wsj.com
Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
"from" - Google News
January 26, 2020 at 01:48PM
https://ift.tt/37tiWPk
U.S. Sets Evacuation Plan From Coronavirus-Infected Wuhan - Wall Street Journal
"from" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2SO3d93
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment