Greek Reporter has learned that at least four Greek passport holders living at or near the Coronavirus epicenter of Wuhan have contacted the country’s authorities in China requesting immediate evacuation.
It is believed that Greek authorities are now trying to board them on flights leaving for almost any destination in Europe. The number of confirmed cases of the Coronavirus has risen above 20,000 and the death toll has reached 425, according to the latest data from China’s official National Health Commission.
A Greek national was found to be among more than 250 people from 30 countries who were flown out of Wuhan on Sunday to France, where they are to be kept in quarantine for two weeks and subjected to medical tests.
The Greek man who was evacuated to France works as a professor of environmental law in Wuhan and was traveling with his pregnant wife.
Three other Greek nationals are also in quarantine in the Chinese province of Hubei, diplomatic sources reported late last week.
They are reportedly in fine health and in contact with the Greek embassy in Beijing, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is coordinating their eventual repatriation with European authorities.
Greece has halted all visa applications from Chinese citizens at least until February 9.
Almost 300 Australians left Wuhan on a chartered evacuation flight on Monday. They flew to Western Australia before being put into quarantine on Christmas Island, a remote territory in the Indian Ocean.
An additional package of measures to protect the country against a Coronavirus outbreak was decided on by the Greek National Public Health Council, which convened on Monday in the presence of Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias in Athens.
The measures include an increase of staff at state hospital laboratories and in Greece’s National Public Health Organization (EODY), with emergency fast-track hiring procedures now in place.
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