Fourteen students evacuated from Wuhan City arrive

By SAMUEL BARIASI
FOURTEEN of the 17 students evacuated from coronavirus-infected Wuhan City in China and quarantined in New Zealand for the past 14 days have finally arrived home.
President of PNG Students Association in Wuhan City, China, Christian Tarkap, who was among the 17, clarified that being quarantined in New Zealand did not mean that they were infected.
“We took all the precautionary measures to avoid getting infected while we were in China,” he said.
Tarkap said they had to be quarantined because it was a requirement by the New Zealand government.
He thanked the governments of China, New Zealand and PNG for making sure the students got home.
Health and HIV/AIDS Minister Jelta Wong said the remaining three would travel home “in the next couple of days” because there was not enough space on yesterday’s flight.
Wong said the Government’s biggest concern now was when the students could go back to China to continue their university studies.
“We have to liaise with their universities to see how they can continue their studies here in PNG,” he said.
Wong said it was sad that some of the students were in their final year but had to leave Wuhan because of the outbreak of the coronavirus.
“The Government will try to put something together and get them to do their studies online,” he said.
He said a campus would be set up in Port Moresby or Lae for this purpose.
Wong said about 400 Papua New Guinea students were still in China.