Missions lend a hand to students living abroad

China has mobilised over 280 diplomatic missions overseas to solve issues that its students abroad are facing regarding Covid-19 prevention, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Chinese embassies and consulates have been keeping close contact with many students studying abroad and have urged host countries to make effective efforts to safeguard the health and rights of the students, a spokesperson said in the statement.

After the outbreak of Covid-19, overseas Chinese students donated money and goods in support of the fight against the epidemic to the homeland, which reflected their patriotism, the statement said.

According to the statement, China had arranged chartered flights to bring back citizens from Iran and Italy, two countries that have been hit hard by the pandemic.

The embassies and consulates had also forwarded guidelines related to the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus to overseas Chinese students through multiple channels, invited medical experts to share professional as well as science-based knowledge, and offered guidance on self-protection and pandemic prevention through online chat.

They had also distributed “health kits” containing epidemic prevention materials and guidelines to the students and answered questions to help solve their problems.

Noting that there were still high risks of a rebound of the pandemic at the domestic level, the statement said the spread of the pandemic overseas had brought new challenges to China.

Although the number of international flights had been reduced, most of the inbound travellers were overseas Chinese students, it said. — China Daily/ANN