DILI, 05 February 2020 (TATOLI) – Timor’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Dionísio Babo Soares has confirmed the 17 students stranded in corona virus-hit Wuhan City, China, have been evacuated to Auckland.
The students boarded an Air New Zealand flight on Tuesday night, he said, along with evacuees from 12 countries.
Those flown on board the government-chartered flight will then be bussed to the military camp at Whangaparāoa, north of Auckland, for quarantine, according to Radio New Zealand.
“The 17 Timorese…are now evacuated from Wuhan in China to Auckland, New Zealand, and will stay in observation place for two weeks before coming to Timor-Leste,” Mr Soares said.
The virus, is officially called 2019-nCov, has killed 425 people since the outbreak began. The World Health Organisation has since said the respiratory disease constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.
The Timorese scholarship-holders have been confined to their university dormitories for much of the past three weeks, as Chinese authorities attempt to stop the spread of the virus which has now infected more than 20,000 people in the country alone.
Flights and public transport in and out of the country have been cancelled in an area encircling some 50 million people.
Leaders across the world, including in Dili, have rallied to negotiate the repatriation of their citizens, and Minister Soares said he was deeply grateful for New Zealand’s assistance.
“On behalf of the Timor-Leste Government and its people, I would like to thank the government of New Zealand, especially the Prime Minister [Jacinda Ardern] and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Winston Peters, for their support and speed… extended to our Timorese students to bring them out from Wuhan,” he said.
Journalist: Nelia Fernandes
Editor: Robert Baird; Rafy Belo
Translation: Nelia Borges
