Ottawa preparing plane to fly Canadians from Wuhan
Have been asked by 160 to help fly out, pending China’s OK
Canada has a plane being prepared to fly Canadians out of the province in China at the centre of an outbreak of a new coronavirus, Foreign Affairs Minister François-philippe Champagne said Wednesday.
The government is also advising all Canadians to avoid “non-essential” travel to China and has also scaled back its diplomatic presence in the country because of the outbreak.
The next step in the evacuation process is to secure co-operation from China to assist the 160 Canadians who have requested some form of help, Champagne said. Not all of them want to leave, he emphasized in an appearance on Parliament Hill.
China has all but sealed off one of its central provinces where the novel coronavirus was first detected. The virus causes respiratory symptoms similar to the common cold, but it can be deadly in very severe cases.
At Champagne’s side, Health Minister Patty Hajdu said the government still has to decide what will happen with the Canadians who leave China, so as to prevent any spread of the illness.
Asked whether returning travellers would be held in quarantine, Hajdu replied: “We will always work to ensure the health of Canadians, whether they’re abroad or whether they’re here. So, yes, what we’re looking at is a scenario where we have all the measures in place to protect Canadians from exposure to the virus. Having said that, that’s about as far as I can go.”
Officials say the 201 Americans taken to the United States from the Chinese city at the centre of the virus outbreak are undergoing three days of monitoring at a southern California military base to make sure they do not show signs of the virus.
Hajdu said the U.S. has a process that is working “efficiently.”
Champagne said Canada is working with allies to co-ordinate plans and make the logistics work, and that could take more time.
Some other countries have promised similar help for their citizens stuck in the province of Hubei — particularly those that have diplomatic offices there, which Canada does not — and Champagne said Canada isn’t far behind them.
“The only plane which has landed is a U.S. plane that was scheduled to be there,” Champagne said, which was then followed by a plane sent by Japan earlier Wednesday.
He said Canada was at the “forefront” of the international response.
The virus has killed more than 130 people and infected more than 6,000 on the Chinese mainland and abroad.
A Twitter message by the Canadian Embassy in China said that, as of Wednesday, its diplomatic missions are working with reduced staff due to the coronavirus. It urged Canadians in need of emergency consular assistance to call or email the emergency response centre of Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa.
WE WILL ALWAYS WORK TO ENSURE THE HEALTH OF CANADIANS.
At least 250 Canadians have registered with Global Affairs Canada to say they are in Wuhan, said Champagne, who added that officials are trying to contact everyone to assess their needs.
Canadian Wayne Duplessis, who teaches in China, said he and his family registered with the emergency response centre in Ottawa to know what help may be available in Wuhan.
But Duplessis, who is originally from Espanola, Ont., said he is not looking to leave.
Most people he knows are taking the situation in stride, although he said there is “a certain resignation” and “despair.” Duplessis and his family members take their temperatures every morning at breakfast.
More restrictions have been placed on cars and some people are worried those might affect day-today activities such as getting groceries, he said.