Malaysian evacuation advance team en route to Wuhan

CORONAVIRUS | The Malaysian Embassy in Beijing today sent an advance team to Wuhan to coordinate and assist in the process of bringing back 120 Malaysians in Hubei province following the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus in that country.

Malaysian Ambassador to China, Raja Nushirwan Zainal Abidin said a team of six embassy officers was assigned to collect and update the list of Malaysians who were in Wuhan (above).

He said the team would also work with local authorities to repatriate the Malaysians later.

“Our advance team left for Wuhan this morning […] (and) the road trip there took about 12 to 13 hours and they are expected to arrive by midnight (local time).

“The team will gather the Malaysians and update the name list for their repatriation process,” he said when contacted today.

Nushirwan said so far discussions with China regarding the evacuation of Malaysians were going well and those involved were expected to return on commercial flights in the near future.

He said details on the flight date would be announced by the Malaysian government after an agreement with China was reached.

“Coordination with the Chinese government has gone well, they (China) understand our situation, (they) are very flexible and accommodating. Putrajaya will announce the date (of the return) later,” he said.

Yesterday, Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said Malaysian military aircraft were not allowed to enter China to bring back the Malaysians stranded in areas affected by the coronavirus outbreak in the republic. - Bernama