Ghana’s Ambassador to China, Edward Boateng has disclosed that no Ghanaian in China was infected by the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) despite the spread of the virus in that country.
More than 80,000 people in the Asian country were infected by the virus with about 3,200 deaths.
But Ghana’s Ambassador to China in an interview with Citi News‘ Bernard Avle said Ghanaians, particularly the students are happy with how the government has engaged with them amidst the outbreak.
“Fortunately for us, none of our people got infected, and we didn’t lose anybody in the process. The students are quite happy now, the government sent money and resources and we’ve been able to manage the situation,” he said.
Edward Boateng added that “Today if a plane was brought, I don’t think that any student will board because they’ve realized the wisdom in the decision that was taken at that time.”
The government of Ghana in February 2020 announced that it would not evacuate Ghanaian students in China despite calls by some of the students and their parents that they needed to return to Ghana due to the risk they faced and challenges in accessing basic medical and food supplies there.
The government’s decision was heavily criticized by a section of the public.
At that time, the virus had not spread to many countries.
The government however sent in monies and food items to the students to support their upkeep.
Ambassador Edward Boateng believes that the government has been vindicated by its decision not to evacuate the students.
“The President has to be applauded for taking that bold decision at that time to leave the students here because he felt at that time that, that was the best thing to do because the Chinese had told us about the containment measures they had put in place,” he said.
He said the Embassy had stayed in constant contact with the Ghanaian community in China including the students to make sure that they were doing well and safe.
“We decided to send them [students] money but the Minister [Foreign Affairs] out of her own motherly instincts said why don’t we send them food from Ghana so we sent Gari, Kenkey, Sardines, Shito, Fufu and I was very impressed,” he said.
