Coronavirus: in Hubei, the impossible repatriation of a Chinese resident in France

Text by: RFI Follow

A third flight with around thirty French people on board is scheduled to arrive on French soil this Friday. All passengers will be quarantined for 14 days upon landing.

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Jançai, a thirty-something Chinese man who has lived and worked in Paris for ten years, was unable to board this last repatriation flight. In the absence of a French passport, he will therefore remain blocked in the province of Hubei, where the number of contaminations with coronavirus does not decrease , without knowing when he will finally be able to return home, to Paris.

The epidemic surprised him during his New Year's vacation. Just arrived at his parents' home, 120 km from Wuhan, the authorities imposed a very strict quarantine on his city. All his relatives are trapped in the family home; food is now rationed. “ We have the right to shop once every five days; and then you have to wait five days to get a new ticket ... I haven't been out of my house for 20 days, "he explains on the phone to Heike Schmidt .

On February 6, the Air France flight which was to bring Jançai to Paris was canceled . Since then, it's been a puzzle: how to join his new job as an internal controller in a large French company? " I signed a promise to hire, I explained to my employer, he understood, it's not my fault, force majeure "

For a while he thought he could board the last repatriation flight to France. A hope that quickly dissipated. " I tried to contact the French embassy in Wuhan but I was told that the French who live in Wuhan have priority. "

His resolution is taken: as soon as he is back in France and out of quarantine, the young Chinese intends to apply for French nationality .

► Read also: Coronavirus: the first lessons from a global epidemic

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