Indonesia Awaits China’s OK to Evacuate Citizens

KOMPAS/PRIYOMBODO

A man walks past a sign for the isolation ward on Tuesday (28/1/2020) at the Sulianti Saroso Infectious Disease Hospital (RSPI) in North Jakarta. The national hospital is one of 100 referral hospitals in the country, and has readied its isolation ward for admitting and treating patients with the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that originated in Wuhan, China.

The Indonesian government is awaiting confirmation from China to evacuate its citizens from Hubei province, the epicenter of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS —The Indonesian government plans to evacuate all Indonesians currently stuck in several cities in Hubei province, China, the epicenter of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. It is still working out the technical details of the evacuation and the health screenings for evacuees once they arrive in Indonesia as it awaits recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as confirmation from the Chinese government on the evacuation.

Vice President Ma’ruf Amin said at his office in Jakarta on Wednesday (29/1/2020) that the evacuation plan could not be realized because Chinese authorities had placed a travel ban for Hubei province, especially Wuhan.

“In fact, the government is ready to evacuate [its citizens], but Wuhan is currently in isolation. People are banned from traveling to and from the region,” he said.

Hubei province is the epicenter of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak. Of the 6,057 confirmed cases in China, 3,554 are in Hubei, while 125 of the 132 deaths linked to the virus are also in Hubei. Several provinces in China have also reported infection and deaths.

The Indonesian government is monitoring the condition of 243 Indonesians – mostly students – in quarantine zones. Outside of Wuhan, Indonesian citizens are also resident in Xianing, Huangshi, Jingzhou, Xianyang, Enshi and Shiyan. The government is also distributing supplies to Indonesians in Hubei.

KOMPAS/IRMA TAMBUNAN

Officials from the Jambi Manpower and Transmigration Agency stand guard on Wednesday (29/1/2020) at the entrance to Karunia Global School, which employs teachers from China and the Philippines. The officials were there as part of the government’s efforts to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by suveilling the school’s foreign teachers, one of who was receiving treatment after returning from a recent trip to Wuhan, China.

Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said the TNI had readied Air Force aircraft for the planned evacuation, adding that it would charter commercial airplanes if necessary.

“I have ordered the TNI Health Center to ready doctors, nurses, medical equipment and medicines for the evacuation. We are ready,” said Hadi.

In addition to Indonesia, several other countries are also awaiting confirmation from the Chinese government on evacuating their citizens, including India, Thailand, Australia and Spain. Australia is said to be in communication with several countries about the possibility of a joint evacuation effort.

Meanwhile, Japan has begun to evacuate its nationals, with the first plane from Wuhan arriving on Wednesday morning in Tokyo with 206 passengers. Five people presenting symptoms of coughing were immediately transported to a hospital, while two of the five also showed symptoms for pneumonia. A lab test is needed to confirm a 2019-nCoV diagnosis.

KOMPAS/VINA OKTAVIA

Workers at Panjang International Port in Bandar Lampung don masks on Wednesday (29/1/2020) to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The port handles around 150 foreign vessels transporting export and import goods every month.

A second plane is scheduled to depart from Tokyo on Wednesday evening, followed by a third on Thursday. South Korea has announced it will be operating two evacuation flights on Thursday and Friday.

Technicalities

The Health Ministry’s disease prevention and control director general, Anung Sugihantono, said that three technical aspects needed to be ascertained before going ahead with the evacuation: the health of potential evacuees, the period of quarantine – whether it fell within the incubation period or not – and transportation for evacuees.

Once these three had been ascertained, Anung said that the follow-up response on the evacuees’ arrival still needed to be determined. This included mandatory quarantine, isolation facilities and a surveillance system using the health alert cards (HAC) and other control measures.

DOKUMENTASI PENERANGAN LANTAMAL VI

Health workers wear personal protective equipment (PPE) during a drill on Wednesday (29/1/2020) at Jala Ammari Navy Hospital in Makassar, South Sulawesi, to anticipate the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) to Indonesia.

Acting Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said that the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing was communicating with the local government. “Madam Foreign Minister [Retno Marsudi] has specially asked that the Indonesian Ambassador in Beijing communicate with China so they can facilitate our evacuation procedures in Hubei province,” he said.

Faizasyah said the Indonesian diaspora in China were spread across hundreds of kilometers, and that it would not be easy to gather them all amid the travel restriction. “The technical preparations needed to gather them are being discussed so that they can be transported as soon as our aircraft arrive,” he said.

It was unclear whether China had cleared Indonesia’s evacuation team for entering quarantine zones.

He said that another challenge was in forming a minimal escort team. It was unclear whether China had cleared Indonesia’s evacuation team for entering quarantine zones. As a result, Faizasyah said that a timeline could not be developed for the evacuation of Indonesians from Hubei.

The head of China’s expert team on control and prevention of the 2019-nCoV pneumonia, Zhong Nanshan, who is a lecturer at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told Xinhua News Agency that it would be difficult to predict when the new coronavirus outbreak would peak. “I believe it should peak in a week or around 10 days. Afterwards, there should be no significant increase [in cases],” said Zhong.

AFP/JAPAN OUT

A bus carrying Japanese evacuees from Wuhan, China, who arrived on the first charter flight arranged by the Japanese government, leaves Tokyo’s Haneda airport on 29 Jan. 2020.

Meanwhile, several patients are being treated in hospitals across Indonesia for suspected coronavirus infection. No confirmed coronavirus cases have emerged in Indonesia to date.  (NTA/ITA/DIA/AIN/REN/KOR/XTI/HRS/NCA/NIK/RWN/MED/HAR/TAN/AIK)