Pakistan: No immediate plans to evacuate citizens from China

[BL33D]

ISLAMABAD — A top Pakistani health official said Thursday that Islamabad had no immediate plan to evacuate any of some 30,000 nationals living in China to study and work, despite the new coronavirus that surfaced there.

Zafar Mirza, who advises Prime Minister Imran Khan on health issues, told a news conference that so far only four Pakistani students in China have been diagnosed with the new virus and their conditions are listed as stable.

He said about 500 Pakistani students were in Wuhan — the site of the outbreak — at the time it surfaced. He said although the virus has killed 170 people in China, authorities in Beijing have done a good job of containing it by taking swift measures.

China has been largely praised for its response to the outbreak. Still, some Pakistani students have complained on social media that they haven’t received enough food and medical care.

Mirza asked relatives of Pakistanis in China not to worry, saying they were being looked after well. He said no decision had been made to evacuate Pakistanis there.

Mirza said the virus might have spread more rapidly internationally if Beijing had not opposed requests made by different countries to evacuate their citizens. “We support China on this policy,” he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...525f2e-436c-11ea-99c7-1dfd4241a2fe_story.html

 

[Asimzranger]

We cant bring them here and cause more spread of this cronsvirus.

 

[El Sidd]

The situation seems under control and hence no immediate plans by Pakistan.

We should learn from this and devise a Crisis Management Cell with Pakistani Embassies all over the world actively participating in their host countries.

 

[Jungibaaz]

I don’t understand the level of hysteria, sure it’s a deadly virus that leaves people hospitalised and is particularly bad for immune compromised and elderly patients. But this thing has a fairly low mortality rate overall.

Flu kills multitudes more people every year in China alone, yet no one cares enough about influenza to follow basic hygiene protocols. Yet here people are in a panic. As if they’re all going to die unless evacuated.

 

[PurAzamBaHadaf]

I don’t understand the level of hysteria, sure it’s a deadly virus that leaves people hospitalised and is particularly bad for immune compromised and elderly patients. But this thing has a fairly low mortality rate overall.

Flu kills multitudes more people every year in China alone, yet no one cares enough about influenza to follow basic hygiene protocols. Yet here people are in a panic. As if they’re all going to die unless evacuated.

Exactly what I said to another patient who came on my ward the other day. Media creates hysteria which people buy without using their brains.

 

[Pandora]

Its better this way otherwise if it starts spreading in Pakistan then THOUSANDS will die. Considering we dont even have a lab to diagnose this virus we will be massively screwed. Such incidents warrant a CDC type organisation in Pakistan. I say we have been lucky so far that no deadly virus has found its way into our population yet.

 

[Pakistani Fighter]

Not advisable to evacuate Pakistani citizens from China: Dr Zafar Mirza
Pakistan
Web Desk
January 30, 2020


Government following WHO, Chinese government's advice regarding the coronavirus outbreak, agrees with quarantine measures: Dr Zafar Mirza

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health, Dr Zafar Mirza said that it was not advisable to evacuate Pakistanis from China, saying that the government will demonstrate responsible behaviour and not become a part in spreading the virus.

Dr Mirza said during a press conference that the government of Pakistan stood with its Chinese counterpart and would respect the directions of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Beijing.

Read more:Coronavirus outbreak: Pakistan monitoring ‘evolving situation’ in China, says FO

"We don't want to take any emotional decision which will cause this virus to spread further," he said. "It is also our responsibility to ensure that our citizens in Wuhan are being properly taken care of and see to it whether they are being provided food or items of daily use or not," he added.

Dr Mirza said the Pakistani embassy in China was providing the government with information about its citizen in Wuhan. He said that it was in the "larger interest of the region" to not evacuate Pakistanis in Wuhan.

"This [decision not to evacuate Pakistanis] is what the WHO is saying and this is what China's policy is," he said. "This is also our policy."

Dr Mirza said that the government will ensure proper checks to keep the coronavirus from spreading when "the situation improves". He said the government will ensure proper screening at entry, exit points of the country and place under observation those who are at risk of carrying the virus.

He said that a Coronavirus Core Committee had been constituted which included the country's top health experts. Dr Mirza said the committee provided its recommendations daily and that the situation to tackle the virus was being modified on a daily basis.

Dr Mirza said that the government's decision not to evacuate its people from Wuhan did not mean that it didn't care about Pakistani citizens. He said that Islamabad was abreast with the facilities being provided to Pakistani citizens in Wuhan.

"I can show you many messages from Pakistani students in Wuhan who have told us that Chinese authorities are taking very good care of them," he said.

Not a single person in Pakistan has contracted the virus: Dr Mirza
Dr Mirza said that not a single person in Pakistan had contracted the virus. He said 7,831 people had contracted the disease and 170 had been killed. The prime minister's adviser on health said only four Pakistani citizens in China had contracted the virus.

"That number remains at four. It has not increased," he said.

He appreciated the policies of the WHO, saying that Pakistan and China were both members of the global body. He said that the WHO had not recommended any member countries to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan, from where the disease had spread.

Dr Mirza credited China with effectively tackling the virus and said that not only Pakistan but countries around the world were appreciating measures taken by the Chinese government.

• 
  

 

[BL33D]

Exactly what I said to another patient who came on my ward the other day. Media creates hysteria which people buy without using their brains.

https://disrn.com/news/harvard-epidemiologist-says-coronavirus-is-thermonuclear-pandemic-level-bad/

https://twitter.com/x/status/1220920161508655105

Scientists studying the virus have much more to say and thats why the reaction. The virus could easily mutate and could make the process of creating vaccine even difficult for which some reports say might take a year. Hysteria isnt ideal but I dont expect such casual attitude from people dealing closely with it.

 

[YeBeWarned]

there is a Hadith regarding epidemics , Prophet said if you hear a city is under some Epidemic disease than do no enter, and if are in the city than do not leave until its over .

 

[litman]

as per hadith mentioned in both bukhari and muslim it is not recommended to move to an area where there is a plague(epidemic of a disease) and if you are at a place where plague has spread then dont move out of it. those who die of the disease will get the status of shaheed. the hadith gave the concept of quarentene.

 

[BL33D]

I don’t understand the level of hysteria, sure it’s a deadly virus that leaves people hospitalised and is particularly bad for immune compromised and elderly patients. But this thing has a fairly low mortality rate overall.

Flu kills multitudes more people every year in China alone, yet no one cares enough about influenza to follow basic hygiene protocols. Yet here people are in a panic. As if they’re all going to die unless evacuated.

Because unlike flu or influenza we dont have a vaccine or defined treatment for this virus which is mutating.

 

[Kathin_Singh]

India will not leave it's citizens in China to die alone.

We will keep them first 14days in a military hospital facility quartined.

 

[Dalit]

India will not leave it's citizens in China to die alone.

We will keep them first 14days in a military hospital facility quartined.

No difference in my opinion. Might as well leave them in China. The family members won't be able to converse directly with their infected kin.

ISLAMABAD — A top Pakistani health official said Thursday that Islamabad had no immediate plan to evacuate any of some 30,000 nationals living in China to study and work, despite the new coronavirus that surfaced there.

Zafar Mirza, who advises Prime Minister Imran Khan on health issues, told a news conference that so far only four Pakistani students in China have been diagnosed with the new virus and their conditions are listed as stable.

He said about 500 Pakistani students were in Wuhan — the site of the outbreak — at the time it surfaced. He said although the virus has killed 170 people in China, authorities in Beijing have done a good job of containing it by taking swift measures.

China has been largely praised for its response to the outbreak. Still, some Pakistani students have complained on social media that they haven’t received enough food and medical care.

Mirza asked relatives of Pakistanis in China not to worry, saying they were being looked after well. He said no decision had been made to evacuate Pakistanis there.

Mirza said the virus might have spread more rapidly internationally if Beijing had not opposed requests made by different countries to evacuate their citizens. “We support China on this policy,” he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...525f2e-436c-11ea-99c7-1dfd4241a2fe_story.html

WP dedicating a whole story about Pakistan not removing its citizens from China. That sounds like paranoia to me.

 

[PurAzamBaHadaf]

https://disrn.com/news/harvard-epidemiologist-says-coronavirus-is-thermonuclear-pandemic-level-bad/

https://twitter.com/x/status/1220920161508655105

Scientists studying the virus have much more to say and thats why the reaction. The virus could easily mutate and could make the process of creating vaccine even difficult for which some reports say might take a year. Hysteria isnt ideal but I dont expect such casual attitude from people dealing closely with it.

I deal with patients who suffer from much worse conditions so this virus is not a big deal for me especially when the government is making sure everyone coming form China is screened now. And yes the virus poses a threat and we should be cautious but we don't need to overreact since the virus is only deadly in some people and as we are now aware of it, we are dealing with it. Saying Pakistan should evacuate all 30,000 people from China adds to this hysteria as 1) there isn't enough place to keep that many people and 2) bringing these people back might harm them as China is currently providing support to everyone.

As far as a vaccine is concerned, yes the virus could easily mutate but that happens with pretty much every virus. A common case would be for influenza but we don't really talk about it anymore. Guess why?

Because unlike flu or influenza we dont have a vaccine or defined treatment for this virus which is mutating.

We don't have a vaccine for new strains of influenza which mutates quite regularly.

 

[Type59]

India will not leave it's citizens in China to die alone.

We will keep them first 14days in a military hospital facility quartined.

Rationality triumphs over emotion. As other posters have highlighted, if infected why bring them home. Pakistan medicine is not as advanced as Rss medicine.