Pak embassy in China asks its nationals to register amid coronavirus scare

Pakistan has urged its nationals residing in China to register themselves with its embassy in Beijing as the flight operations resumed between the two countries amid the coronavirus outbreak that has claimed 425 lives.

Pakistan on Monday allowed two Chinese flights to land here, a day after it received special medical kits from Beijing to detect the deadly virus cases.

A public notice was put out on Pakistan Embassy's website on Sunday after several students in China contacted Pakistani TV channels and complained that the embassy had no proper database about its citizens in China.

All Pakistani nationals residing in China are kindly requested to register themselves and their family members with the Embassy of Pakistan as early as possible, according to the notice.

It said that the registration can be made by filling electronic forms given at the embassy's website.

It is further requested that complete details of all family members including spouses/children may also be furnished during the registration, said the embassy.

The Pakistan Foreign Office said that nearly 30,000 Pakistani students, including 500 in Wuhan, were in China, apart from many business persons.

While India, the US, Sri Lanka and many other countries evacuated their nationals from Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic, Pakistan has declined pleas by its stranded citizens in the city to airlift them.

Pakistan's Ambassador to China Naghmana Hashmi on Sunday said that Pakistani students should not be evacuated from Wuhan as the medical facilities back home did not meet the standards required to treat a patient diagnosed with the coronavirus.