In response to the new outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19), Pakistan’s Overseas Ministry will inform student parents stranded in China on 19 February.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Special Advisor of Prime Minister Zulfiqar Bukhari and Federal Minister of Health Dr Zafar Mirza at OPF Girls College in Islamabad will attend the briefing.
During the session, the situation and the steps of the government in order to protect Pakistani students will be updated to parents.
It is moved after the Islamabad Higher Court ordered officials of the Foreign Office to arrange a meeting of parents with the Prime Minister’s special assistant on Pakistani citizens from abroad to coordinate the work of a special assistant for the Pakistani Prime Minister.
IHC also ordered the federal government to appoint a focal person to facilitate the parents whose children are stranded in coronavirus-hit China and directed the foreign ministry officials to take urgent steps and devise a mechanism for providing parents updates about their children till next February 21.
How Many Pakistani Students in Wuhan?
According to official figures, there are 500 to 800 registered Pakistanis studying in various universities of Wuhan – the city of 11 million people which has been quarantined by the Chinese authorities in an effort to stem the spread of the deadly virus.
On Thursday, Mirza confirmed that four Pakistani students who had contracted coronavirus – officially named COVID-19 – have fully recovered. The minister added that the students have been discharged from medical facilities.
