KUALA LUMPUR: A team of six officers from the Malaysian Embassy in China is on their way to Wuhan – the epicentre of the novel Coronavirus (2019—nCoV) outbreak - to coordinate efforts involving stranded Malaysians in the Hubei province capital city.
Malaysian Ambassador to China, Raja Datuk Nushirwan Zainal Abidin, said the team was dispatched to the scene to update the current situation involving Malaysians there before they are evacuated from the city.
The team, he said, was deployed after the embassy received the green light from Wuhan authorities to carry out the task.
He said the team left the Malaysian embassy in Beijing at 10.30am and they are expected to arrive in Wuhan by midnight.
“Our main priority is to coordinate efforts involving Malaysians as well as tracking down our people who are still in Wuhan and other areas in the Hubei province.
“Based on our records, there are some 120 Malaysians there. However, the number of Malaysians who are stranded in Wuhan and nearby areas might be slightly higher or possibly less.
“At the moment, there are any possibilities involving Malaysians in Wuhan, whether they are in good health or they had returned home. That is why, we had deployed the team from the embassy to get the necessary full information on the situation involving Malaysians there,” said Nushirwan when contacted.
Based on the present record of the embassy, he said Malaysians in Wuhan comprised professional workers, tourists and 11 students.
He, however, said the actual date for the evacuation exercise involving Malaysians in Wuhan has yet to be finalised.