The National Union of Ghanaian Students (NUGS)-China has said Ghanaian students in Shanghai are safe.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, Vice President of NUGS-China, Emmanuel Degraft Quarshie assured that no Ghanaian student living in that country has contracted the virus and that everything is still in place to keep students safe.
“The embassy has reassured the student body of their safety. We’ve made supplies to Wuhan where the incident is prevalent so they’ve given the student body in Wuhan money to purchase required items which will help to safeguard the students there. But in Shanghai, everything is under control as students are following the precautionary measures and other measures being put in place to ensure the safety of every Ghanaian student,” he said.
He called for the continuous support of the Embassy of Ghana in China so as to prevent a shortage of food and supplies since they are on an indefinite curfew.
He noted that “the only thing the student body needs right now is food because regardless of the number of days that you’ll be kept in the room, even if you have one room filled with food, it will get finished eventually because the curfew is indefinite. So we are still counting on the embassy on its support just as it has given already so that when the food finishes eventually, we’ll have supplies at the end.”
Foreign Affairs Ministry calls for calm
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration on Tuesday urged Ghanaians not to panic about their relatives in China following the outbreak of coronavirus in that country.
According to the Ministry, no Ghanaian has been affected by the virus.
A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed that the Embassy of Ghana in Beijing and the consulate-General in Guangzhou are in constant contact with students and citizens of Ghana living in China.
The Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA) has also advised its members to defer any plans to travel to China until the Coronavirus outbreak is brought under control.
About virus
The coronavirus, known also as 2019-nCoV, is said to be a new strain of coronavirus that has not previously been identified in humans.
The number of total confirmed cases had risen to 4,515 as of January 27.
The virus which was first reported in the province of Wuhan in China has sent fear around the world with various governments putting measures in place to ensure that their citizens both home and in China are safe.