The Quai d'Orsay is attentive to the situation of its nationals in China. While Wuhan, a city of 11 million inhabitants where the coronavirus epidemic has been declared, has been placed in solitary confinement, Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a press release Friday that France was considering evacuating its nationals from the area by bus. About 500 people are registered with the French consulate in Wuhan.

"The French Consulate General in Wuhan has informed French nationals in Wuhan that it plans to set up, in conjunction with the local authorities, a bus service enabling French nationals who wish to do so and their spouses and children to leave Wuhan city, "said the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs in a statement.

>> Read also: Coronavirus: "It's very tense everywhere in China!"

According to the crisis unit set up by the Quai d'Orsay contacted by France 24, French nationals should be evacuated to a neighboring city where they will remain in quarantine [for fourteen days, incubation time of the virus]. Some of them have already left the city, as told by France 24 Sébastien Spaeth, director of the French international school in Wuhan.

The United States wants to repatriate its nationals

According to the Wall Street Journal, the United States has decided to charter an aircraft to evacuate its nationals and diplomatic personnel. Washington would have received the green light from Beijing to send this plane which will be able to evacuate about 230 Americans out of the 1,000 who live in the area.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that it was premature to consider this epidemic as a public health emergency of international concern, but said it was monitoring its development minute by minute.
Chinese authorities have also suspended the entire bus network connecting Beijing to the country's provinces starting on Sunday, hoping to reduce the risk of the virus spreading. In the same spirit, Beijing announced the suspension of trips by groups of Chinese abroad, or within the country from Monday, January 27.

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