The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Zhou Pingjian, has said that the Chinese government would do the needful to protect foreign nationals, including Nigerians in China.
The Ambassador disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at a press briefing on the updates and measures put in place by China towards preventing the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) across the globe.
He said China was willing and ready to work with other countries in the world, including Nigeria with a view to bringing the coronavirus the epidemic under control across the world.
He said:
“We have informed the World Health Organisation (WHO), relevant countries and Hong Kong and Taiwan of the latest epidemic situation.
“We have shared information on virus gene sequence with all parties at the first time. We have taken the most comprehensive and rigorous containment and mitigation measures and many of them go well beyond the requirement of the International Health Regulations (2005).“
The Ambassador however urged the global community to have confidence in China’s capacity to control the outbreaks and cautioned against measures that would interfere with International travel trade.
“WHO doesn’t limiting trade and movement? Director General’s recommendations should be seriously considered,” he noted.
He said the number of confirmed cases of the virus has increased to 17, 205 and 21, 558 in Chinese mainland while 361 have died of the disease.
“We will in responsible manner, safeguard the safety of every foreign national in China, including the Nigerian expatriates and address their legitimate concerns in a timely manner. ”
Meanwhile, the Lagos State government has reached an agreement with Chinese authorities to quarantine Chines returnees to the country for a period of 14 days on arrival in the country.
Also, the Japanese government has put on quarantine a cruise ship carrying more than 3700 passengers and crew members over coronavirus scare.
