Second flight bringing Singaporeans back from Wuhan to return on Sunday
SINGAPORE — A second flight bringing Singaporeans and their family members back from Wuhan, Hubei is expected to arrive in Singapore on Sunday (Feb 9) morning.
SINGAPORE — A second flight bringing Singaporeans and their family members back from Wuhan, Hubei is expected to arrive in Singapore on Sunday (Feb 9) morning.
"Appropriate quarantine arrangements have been made for all of them," said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
Singapore flew 92 Singaporeans home from Wuhan last week, four of whom have since been diagnosed with the coronavirus.
Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong said at the time that some Singaporeans were unable to come back because they were already symptomatic.
Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in Parliament on Monday that Singapore will not leave any overseas citizen behind, in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak that has since killed more than 700 people and infected more than 35,000, mostly in China.
In a press statement on Saturday, MFA said that the Chinese authorities agreed to its request to launch another flight to bring Singaporeans and their families home.
Scoot flight TR5120 departed from Singapore on Saturday afternoon.
The plane will deliver humanitarian assistance from the Singapore Government, including medical supplies and about 10,000 diagnostic test kits.
"Today is chap goh mei, which is another traditional evening for family reunion. So, for us to be able to launch this flight to bring our Singaporeans back on this day is extra special," said Dr Balakrishnan, at the handing over of Singapore’s humanitarian assistance to Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China Hong Xiaoyong at Changi Airport on Saturday.
Dr Balakrishnan also thanked the airline crew, pilots and cabin crew for continuing to fly.
"We are maintaining links between Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing and the fact that these links are available for essential services is a very important point, especially in a time of crisis," he said.
On Friday, Singapore raised the Dorscon level following several cases of novel coronavirus without any links to previous cases or travel history to mainland China.
The number of cases in Singapore is 33, with at least four patients with no recent travel history to China or links to the other cases. CNA
For more stories like this, visit cna.asia