The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which said Friday “considering” an evacuation, is in the process of contacting the French who remain trapped in the metropolis, quarantined since Thursday.
The French inhabitants of Wuhan, home of the coronavirus epidemic, may well be evacuated from the city, reports the correspondent of Radio France in China. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which said Friday “consider” an evacuation, is in the process of contacting the French who remain trapped in the metropolis, quarantined since Thursday. These French people, around 250 according to our figures, can thus be exfiltrated by bus to Changsha, a town located 300 kilometers from Wuhan.
There is not yet a specific date for the operation, which is being implemented. A Frenchman living in Wuhan, contacted on Saturday January 25 by the consulate, testified: “You have to register and the people who are likely to leave are doing a little inventory of all this. And after, the decision will be to stay in Changsha, maybe to stay in quarantine, I do not know yet.”
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He shared the relief of a part of the French community: “Afterwards, we would have the choice either to stay in Changsha, or to return where we would like, so many would like to return to France …”
Yesterday there were some who were nervous enough to have to stay here in Wuhan. So those who really wanted to leave will be happy to leave.at franceinfo
“It is planned that a representation of the consulate be on the spot in Changsha to facilitate the reception of our compatriots. It would be up to each one to take its personal arrangements, in particular financial, to organize either its lodging in Changsha, or its transit towards a other place “, explains the consulate in an email to French nationals from Wuhan.
“A specific and permanent mechanism for monitoring and responding to the concerns of the French” was set up on Thursday by the crisis and support center of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, in coordination with the French Embassy in Beijing, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday evening. “It is scalable and can be scaled up if necessary. It includes in particular the implementation of a dedicated telephone answer”, specifies the ministry.
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