China to evacuate its citizens from Iran amid coronavirus outbreak

The Chinese Embassy in Iran is planning to evacuate its nationals from the country as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread, according to the state-run media. According to the reports, the first charter flight is scheduled to arrive in Iran on the night of March 3. The Chinese students stranded in the holy city of Qom, which is believed to be the epicentre of Iran's outbreak, are among those who have registered for the evacuation flight. 

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The Tehran authorities said at least 2,336 people have been infected in the country amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak that has claimed 77 lives, including a top government adviser, as per reports. Amid coronavirus outbreak, on March 1, the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that Tehran would get all help it needs to fight the deadly virus. He even stressed that there should be global coordination on the issues and pointed out that 'together we can defend this'.

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WHO to provide full support

Ghebreyesus at the second Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum said, “In an emergency situation, we could give them the support they need. So the best would be addressing the current issue and providing all supports that they need and in the process for the sanctions not to affect it. Sometimes when you bring it with other issues you lose focus, and you don't do what's at hand. So let's do what's at hand. Let's really focus on this and make sure that there is nothing on our way to fight or respond to this outbreak effectively”. 

He further added, “We need to fight it because it's everybody. Everybody should stand as one. On sanction and emergency situations it is not applied. So, we are working and we will give all the support Iran needs to the outbreak. On COVID issues it's better to focus on COVID, the outbreak and whether we do it best to address this”. 

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