Parents of students in China virus epicentre vent anger at federal ministers

Outbreak has caused more than 2,000 deaths

ISLAMABAD: Angry parents of students stuck in Chinese province Hubei, the centre of novel coronavirus outbreak, confronted government ministers and refused to receive a briefing on students stranded in China.

The briefing was supposed to be conducted by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfiqar Bukhari along with SAPM on National Health Services Dr Zafar Mirza at the OPF Girls College in Islamabad.

However, parents refused to be appraised from the government officials and demanded to evacuate their children from the virus- struck county within three days.



The federal government has so far ruled out bringing home the more than 1,000 students in Hubei province and its capital Wuhan, where three-quarters of the more than 2,000 deaths from the outbreak of the flu-like virus had been recorded.

During first meeting with the parents on Wednesday since the diagnosis of nCoV-19 virus in their children, the ministers said that students’ welfare was better off in China as Pakistan did not have adequate facilities to quarantine them if they returned.

Parents of Pakistani students, who are stuck in the locked-down province at the centre of China's coronavirus outbreak, demand evacuation of their children during a protest in Islamabad, Pakistan February 19, 2020. PHOTO: REUTERS

But hundreds interrupted the briefing, with some seizing microphones to say they did not want to listen to officials until their children were returned and dozens flooding the stage to crowd around the ministers.

"Bring our kids back, they have been in lockdown for 25 days...they are not getting any support...from you," one family member who took the microphone said.

Advisor on health Mirza said he would convey the parents' anger at a cabinet meeting today (Thursday).

Islamabad has said its embassy in Beijing is supporting students and a two-person team travelled to Wuhan this week to meet students and gather more information about their situation.

More than 400 parents travelled from around the country to attend the meeting at a school in Islamabad and around 100 protested with placards outside after the meeting, blocking a nearby road. Protests in the larger cities of Lahore and Karachi were held last week.

Many students and their families have expressed growing frustration as the death toll in China mounts, pointing to other countries, including neighbouring India and Bangladesh, evacuating their citizens.

Muhammad Wasim Akram, whose wife is a fourth-year medical student in the city of Shiyan in Hubei, said he had travelled five hours to the meeting but was left disappointed.

"I travelled from Lahore to attend this nonsense. I feel nothing (has been done)...shame on the government," he said, adding students' mental health was eroding after being stuck inside for weeks, while their access to food and bottled water was limited.



Suspected coronavirus case in Karachi

A suspected coronavirus case has been reported in Karachi.

The 22-year-old student had been admitted in isolation ward of Dow University of Health Sciences at its Ojha Campus.  Samples from the suspected patient have been sent to National Institute of Health (NIH) for testing.

The university spokesperson said that the 22-year-old student hails from Karachi and has been admitted in the isolation ward after he started showing symptoms of carrying coronavirus.

(With additional input from Reuters)