KUANTAN: The National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) is coordinating efforts to bring home 80 Malaysians from Wuhan following the novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak.
Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said Nadma which is spearheading the effort is already prepared and the move to evacuate Malaysians from Wuhan is expected to be completed within the next few days.
"We plan to bring them home as soon as possible and I hope it can be done within the next two or three days. Wisma Putra is already in talks with China over the matter and once confirmed, Nadma will make an announcement on the details (flight date and time).
"Although the (Royal Malaysian) Air Force had offered their services to bring home the stranded Malaysians but China only allows commercial flights. The safety of Malaysians in Wuhan remains as our top priority," he told reporters after attending the Indera Mahkota parliamentary
constituency's Chinese New Year celebration here today.
Saifuddin, who is also the Indera Mahkota member of parliament, said medical personnel from Malaysia will also board the aircraft that will be deployed to bring these Malaysians back from Wuhan.
"The medical staff will be tasked with checking on the Malaysians' health condition and once they arrive back, they will be screened in case they are required to be quarantined and only allowed home once they are cleared. As part of our efforts to help in the midst of the Wuhan crisis, Malaysia will be sending 10 million medical rubber gloves in the aircraft to Wuhan," he said.
He said the 80 Malaysians in Wuhan included nine students, 11 couples who were married to Chinese nationals and one South African (married to a Malaysian and lives in Wuhan).
"Wuhan in the Hubei province has about 115 Malaysians but some have returned back to Malaysia for the festive holidays and others are on vacation at provinces in China. There are about 35,000 Malaysians living in China, 25,000 in Hong Kong and 2,500 in Beijing," he said
After the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysia would engage with China to evacuate its citizens from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.
Japan, France and the United States are among the countries which have began efforts to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan.