ISLAMABAD – Pakistani security officials are reportedly concerned that over10,000 police personnel delegated to protect Chinese engineers working onBelt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure projects could be at risk ofcontracting the Wuhan coronavirus.
“As the Chinese move in and out on a daily basis in Pakistan, it may alsospread in our country and our constabulary,” Special Protection UnitDirector Umer Sheikh said in a letter to Inspector General of Punjab PoliceShoaib Dastgir, as reportedlinkbyPakistan’s *Dawn* on Tuesday.
Sheikh asked for Dastgir’s help in submitting a request to Pakistani healthagencies for medical advice and protective equipment.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has reportedly provided about a hundredtest kits to Punjab health services to screen for coronavirus infections.Punjab officials have designated four teaching hospitals to serve ascoronavirus treatment centers if needed.
According to Dawn, there has been one suspected Wuhan virus case among thefour thousand Chinese engineers sent to Pakistan. The individual inquestion has been quarantined pending test results, and efforts are beingmade to check other people he came in contact with.
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Pakistani hospitals and clinics were put on alertlinkforWuhan infections last week, as soon as Chinese officials belatedly admittedthe virus can be spread by human contact. Pakistan’s airports beganscreening inbound passengers for symptoms of the coronavirus at that time.
Chinese workers traveling back and forth to Pakistan to work on Belt andRoad projects were cited as a matter of particular concern, but the numberof Chinese living full-time in Pakistan has increased enormously over thepast five years due to BRI, and many of them would likely have relativesliving in Wuhan or the surrounding Hubei province. Pakistani citizensworking for Chinese businesses expressed concerns about managers andco-workers traveling home to China for visits and potentially sufferingexposure to the virus.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi gave assuranceslink onTuesday that Pakistanis are safe from the Wuhan virus, including thoseliving in China. A group of some 500 Pakistani students living in Wuhan hasappealedlinktotheir government for evacuation, pointing to efforts by other countrieslike France, Germany, and the United States to evacuate their people fromthe city, which was recently placed under lockdown to contain the epidemic.
“There is a shortage of essentials and if this situation persists, we willrun out of food very soon,” one of the students said in a video message.
“We plead that the authorities take notice of our situation on ahumanitarian basis and do something about it. We will be grateful to youall our lives,” said another.
