A group of displaced students in São Miguel, in which a young man from Braga is located, asked the Regional Government to take measures to allow them to return home in the face of travel limitations due to the covid-19, said today the Academic Association of the University of Azores.
“It is a matter of giving students a voice and asking the Government [Regional] react and take measures to meet the needs of students, so that students can meet with their families as soon as possible, ”said the president of the Academic Association of the University of the Azores (AAUA), Daniela Faria.
AAUA sent a letter to the president of the regional executive, Vasco Cordeiro, asking for the promotion of the return home of students from various islands in the Azores, Madeira and the continent, who are in São Miguel.
In the document, to which Lusa had access, AAUA attaches a letter from a group of displaced students who say they “have no expected return date” at home and suggest that an “extraordinary SATA flight” or “an airplane be carried out” Air Force C295 ”.
“The failure to adopt a measure that allows the rapid family reunification of students displaced in São Miguel is a form of unequal treatment in relation to colleagues who have already returned from the continent and continue to return, on flights carried out by TAP”, points out the group of students displaced.
The students argue that they should have the opportunity to “carry out the quarantine period in the hotel institutions designated for this purpose” in the “respective islands” of origin, as was decreed for all passengers arriving in São Miguel.
In the letter, students draw attention to the fact that the university residence in Ponta Delgada has only been occupied by students and night security since 16 March.
“It is the students who are at the concierge, in the laundry room and are responsible for cleaning the disinfection of the isolation spaces, which should be cleaned by services provided by a cleaning company”, they stress.
The students made a form to collect signatures from all displaced students held in São Miguel, however, it was not “possible to collect signatures in writing from everyone”, due to the limitations of movement on the island.
In this form, Lusa verified the existence of 23 enrolled students, 22 from the University of the Azores and one from the EPROSEC professional school.
Of the enrolled students, four are from Terceira Island, five are from Faial, four from São Jorge, one from Pico, four from Madeira, two from Lisbon, one from Braga, one from Mirandela and one from Brasília, in Brazil.
The form also contains the registration of a mother of a displaced student who had her flight to Terceira canceled, after having come to São Miguel to help her daughter, who was suffering from a health problem.
The president of the Academic Association also said that a “significant part” of these students saw their request for travel rejected by the Regional Health Authority.
On March 19, the President of the Government of the Azores, Vasco Cordeiro, ordered the suspension of air connections by companies of the SATA group between all islands in the region and between the region and abroad, except for cargo transport flights or cases of force majeure
The Azorean Health Authority reported today that in the past 24 hours there have been no new cases of covid-19, with the number of infected people remaining at 84, with three deaths recorded since the beginning of the pandemic.
The new coronavirus pandemic has killed 96,340 people worldwide and has infected nearly 1.6 million in 193 countries and territories since the pandemic began last December in China.
–
