King Mohammed VI has ordered the airlifting of Moroccan nationals living in the Chinese province of Wuhan, which has been plagued by a deadly coronavirus outbreak, the royal cabinet said in a statement seen by APA on Tuesday.
The Chinese province has since been quarantined due to the coronavirus epidemic.
During a working session devoted to the situation of Moroccans in the Chinese province on Monday, the monarch “gave his very high instructions for the repatriation of the hundreds of Moroccan nationals, mainly students, currently living in the province,” the statement said.
He also ordered that the necessary measures be taken at the level of air transport, appropriate airports and specific reception health infrastructures readied for the repatriation exercise.
The king also ordered the head of government and the various officials present at the meeting, each in their area of competence, to ensure adequate monitoring and coordination, the statement added.
Meanwhile, the number of victims of the viral pneumonia epidemic in China has risen to 80 with 2,744 confirmed cases in the country, according to local authorities.
Twenty-four more deaths have been recorded in Hubei Province, the epicenter of the contagion, but no new fatalities have been confirmed outside of the province, the central government said on Monday.
President Xi Jinping on Saturday admitted that the situation was grave, warning that the epidemic that broke out in December in the central city of Wuhan has been gathering steam.
The holiday period for the Chinese New Year, which was to last until January 30, has been extended – without a specific date – to “curb the movement of people,” state media said.
The director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia, said he was on his way to China for talks with the authorities on ways of containing the plague.
HA/fss/as/APA