The delayed evacuation of Ukrainians from China’s Wuhan is associated with minimization of the risks, this is “a matter of days”, said Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk.
“We’re still looking for an opportunity to carry evacuation in a way for to set not the additional risks for the local population [in Ukraine]. And this is the main task,” he said during the sitting of the Cabinet of Ministers on Feb. 12.
He said that “there had been some nuances concerning how this infection behaves.”
In this view, Ukraine uses the experience of another states in organization of the evacuation.
“As soon as we are 100% sure that the evacuation does not set the risk of this infection entering the territory of Ukraine and spreading it here, we will immediately carry out all the necessary evacuation actions,” he said.
“This is a matter of days. Our aircraft is ready, several facilities have been determined to which evacuation could be done,” Honcharuk explained.
At the same time, the Kyiv-based Dzerkalo Tyzhnia ZN.UA (Mirror Weekly) posted that the planned evacuation of Ukrainians from China did not take place due to the country’s unwillingness to accept its citizens and organize quarantine.
According to ZN.UA, “it was canceled due to the fact that the Health Ministry as of Feb. 11 decided to land a plane at Boryspil airport, and did not find a room where 41-54 Ukrainians living in Wuhan could be quarantined for two weeks, or, according to recent reports, up to three weeks.”
The day before, according to ZN.UA, the weekly asked Health Minister Zoriana Skaletska to clarify the situation with the evacuation of Ukrainian citizens from China, but the minister did not respond adding she was busy. In particular, ZN.UA was interested in what kind of flight – private or state – will used for evacuation, where it will land, how the plane will be disinfected after, and also where the Ukrainians will undergo quarantine.
In the Chinese province of Hubei and city of Wuhan, there are about 150-200 citizens of Ukraine, more than 50 of them expressed a desire to be evacuated and agreed to a two-week quarantine immediately after arrival.
On Feb. 12, the Ukrainian Airlines SkyUp announced that it was ready to make a special flight to the Chinese city of Wuhan to evacuate Ukrainian citizens and was waiting for a green light from the Health Ministry of Ukraine.
