Canada preparing plane to fly Canadians from Wuhan amid coronavirus outbreak
By
ALEX BALLINGALL | Jan. 29, 2020
Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says the government has a plane preparing to fly Canadians out of Wuhan
OTTAWA—The federal government has chartered a plane but still needs China’s permission to fly Canadians out of that country’s coronavirus quarantine zone, Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Wednesday.
The evacuation is being planned as the impact of the deadly virus continues to be felt around the world. Airlines have cancelled scores of flights to China amid tight travel restrictions in the affected region, and Ottawa is urging all Canadians to avoid going to mainland China unless it is necessary.
By Wednesday afternoon, 160 Canadians had asked Ottawa to help get them out of Hubei province, where the novel strain of coronavirus emerged in late December and has infected almost 6,000 people.
As the death toll in China rises and the number of infections continues to climb, Canada is following other countries that have already moved their citizens from the quarantined area. Given the experience of the United States, which successfully removed more than 200 Americans on Wednesday, Champagne said it could take “several days” to receive China’s permission to send in a plane to repatriate Canadians stuck in the region.
Speaking outside the House of Commons, Champagne said the government still needs to sort out crucial details. That includes deciding whether to bring sick passengers back to Canada, and whether to follow other countries that have said they will quarantine their returning citizens for as long as two weeks.
“We have a plane secured, like the other nations, and now we’re working like the international community to get the landing permission and obviously the logistics,” Champagne said.
Following the American airlift, Japan chartered its own plane to carry more than 200 passengers from China to Tokyo and has reportedly sent a second plane to remove more of its citizens from Wuhan, the city where the outbreak reportedly began in late December.
New Zealand, the United Kingdom and France are among other countries planning to fly citizens home.
Health Minister Patty Hajdu said Wednesday that the government is looking to what other countries are doing to ensure the repatriation of citizens from China doesn’t increase the risk of the virus in Canada. Australia reportedly plans to quarantine returning citizens for 14 days — the length of time health experts believe it takes before infected people show symptoms of the virus — on Christmas Island, where the country detains incoming refugees and foreign nationals awaiting deportation. Britain has also said it will isolated citizens returning from Wuhan for 14 days.
Returning Americans were screened for the illness upon arrival in California and will reportedly be placed in temporary housing for an undetermined period of time.
Hajdu suggested Canada might do something similar.
“Part of the process now is figuring out exactly what our protocols will be when we return Canadians that wish to come home,” she said. “We’re working very closely with our U.S. counterparts who obviously have some experience in this and have set up some best practices, and we'll be following their lead very closely. And we'll have more to say as those processes unfold.”
Canadians stuck in China — as well as those with relatives in the region — have called on Ottawa to step in and get them out for several days. New Democrat MP Don Davies, the party’s health critic, said Wednesday that Ottawa should have moved quicker to evacuate Canadians from the region.
“Canada’s playing catch up,” said Davies, the NDP’s health critic. “While it’s a positive thing to see Canada now announce that they are going to get a plane ... it’s disappointing that it took this long and other countries to be ahead of us in order to do so.”
Champagne defended the timing, pointing out that only the U.S. and Japan have removed citizens so far.
“I will tell you Canada is at the forefront of the response,” he said. “I’ve talked to my counterparts, we’re in touch with everyone and I can assure you that the government of Canada is there to respond to this consular emergency that Canadians want there, and we will continue to do so. We’re using best practices.”
The vast majority of more than 6,000 confirmed cases of the infection are in China, with just 68 infections in other countries, including three so far in Canada, according to the
World Health Organization. All of the 170 people who have died were in China.
Amid China’s efforts to clamp down on movement and stop the virus from spreading, Canada temporarily closed its visa application centres across China on Wednesday. Visa Facilitation Services, the private company that handles applications for travel visas to Canada at 11 centres across China, said all of its offices will be closed until at least Monday. It also cancelled all in-person appointments for visas that were scheduled before the end of January.
Meanwhile, Air Canada cancelled all of its flights to China as the federal government advises all Canadians to avoid non-essential travel to mainland China. The cancellations will take effect Thursday and the 33 flights per week to Beijing and Shanghai won’t resume until Feb. 29, the airline said Wednesday. British Airways and American Airlines have also cancelled flights to China.
In Toronto, public health officials confirmed the wife of the man who was the city’s first confirmed case also has the respiratory illness. Ontario’s health ministry also reported that 23 people are “under investigation” for the coronavirus, up from 19 people on Monday.
Dr. Eileen de villa, Toronto’s medical officer of health, said Wednesday that the cases in Toronto — as well as a presumptive third case in British Columbia — are “not unexpected,” given the frequent movement of people between Canada and China.
“In Canada, we’ve had three cases, they’re all connected to travel to Wuhan,” Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, told the House of Commons health committee Wednesday afternoon.
“For sure, in the general population in Canada, the risk is low.”
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