Monday, January 27, 2020

Coronavirus effect: kin of students studying in China a worried lot

Many want Centre to provide updates


27/01/2020, R. KRISHNAMOORTHY , S. POORVAJA ,TIRUCHI / CHENNAI

Relatives of students from Tamil Nadu studying in universities in China are gripped by anxiety and helplessness in the backdrop of the outbreak of coronavirus in China.

Hundreds of students from the State are pursuing higher education in various universities in China. Their relatives have been trying to reach out to them for several days now.

P. Arun, a resident of Pudukottai, said he was worried about the well-being of his brother P. Manishankar, a student of Wuhan University.

“The assurance on Sunday morning by the Central government to safeguard Indian students in China has given us hopes. But, there has been no further update. We feel helpless and expect some quick action,” Mr. Arun said.

Ravi, whose son, Robin Raj, from Nagapattinam, is studying medicine at the Wuhan university, sounded relieved after a telephonic talk with his son in the afternoon.

“I could gauge from our conversation that the Chinese authorities have planned to translocate the stranded people in Wuhan to a neighbouring province. As of now, no one has been permitted to go from Wuhan,” he said. A student from Tenkasi, who is pursuing medicine in Qingdao, said that since it is vacation time, many students had already left for their home town in Tamil Nadu.

“There are about 150 students pursuing medicine here. Some students who decided to stay back have booked tickets to Tamil Nadu last week since a few cases were reported in Qingdao as well,” said the student.

Centre in touch

Central government officials are in touch with Indian students in Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province. They are also talking with local governments regarding their safety and the possibility of their return, sources said.

The officials are contacting universities to find out about the re-opening dates and several institutions have deferred the reopening. Students have been advised to avoid non-essential travel.

Meanwhile, the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine along with Airports Authority of India officials, continues to screen passengers from China at airports in Chennai, Tiruchi and Coimbatore. Isolation wards are ready in all government medical college hospitals. K. Kolandaswamy, director of public health, said thermal screening along with symptomatic screening was being done at the airports.

(With inputs from Serena M. Josephine)

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