President Akufo-Addo has told the nation that his government has not come to a firm y8decision on whether to evacuate Ghanaians in China who have been pleading to be removed from the country which is grappling with the coronavirus crisis.
Presenting the State of the Nation Address in Parliament today, he said government has received advice from medical experts that it abandons any ideas of evacuation and rather support and count on the Chinese medical system to handle the situation.
Consequently, he said there are no immediate plans to evacuate from China, nevertheless, he said the government is still building the necessary quarantine infrastructure for containment in view of possible future decision to evacuate.
In the mean time, he said, government has allocated US$500 to the over 24,000 Ghanaians in China, including those held up in Wuhan, the epicenter of the infections, saying the challenge of the coronavirus crisis should not be politicized.
“There is a sizeable Ghanaian community in China and our government, through our Embassy, has been working with the Chinese authorities to find the best way to deal with the situation.
“The Ghanaian community includes four thousand, seven hundred and sixty (4,760) students, out of which three hundred (300) are studying in Hubei Province and two hundred (200) in the city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak. We have a difficult and delicate situation on our hands, Mr Speaker, and it does not benefit anybody to try to score points by introducing ill-judged politics into this ongoing medical conundrum and humanitarian tragedy.
“Most of these students are on Chinese government scholarships, and, since the crisis started, the Chinese government has done its best to keep them supplied with food and other logistics. The Ghana government, through its Mission, also supplies logistics, and the Embassy has given, so far, five hundred United States dollars (US$500) to each student.”
The President also said he has already sent solidarity messages to President Xi Jin Ping and received assurances from him that all is being done to defeat the crisis.