Amid The Spotlight On 'imports Of COVID-19', China Continues To Evacuate Its Citizens From Afghanistan

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Chinese government continues to evacuate its citizens from Afghanistan amid the spotlight on imported COVID-19 cases.

Reported from Antara, Sunday, July 11, Xiamen Airlines flight number MF8008 brought home 210 Chinese citizens from Kabul, Afghanistan, to Wuhan, Hubei Province.

The plane was sent by the Chinese government to take its citizens home from Afghanistan, the authorities at Wuhan's Tianhe International Airport said.

The repatriation of Chinese citizens was carried out because the security situation in Afghanistan, a neighboring country to the southwest, continued to deteriorate.

Previously, Chinese citizens highlighted that there were 52 positive cases of COVID-19 on flight MF8008 from Kabul to Wuhan, Friday, July 2.

"How can it happen, so many positive cases on one plane," said a Chinese netizen's post commenting on the news on Weibo which has been read by more than three million people.

The Chinese government chartered the plane because there were no direct flights from Wuhan, which was the first city where COVID-19 cases were discovered, to Afghanistan.

"The plane has been assigned a place at the airport. Disinfectant has also been sprayed," Tianhe Airport staff quoted Jiankang Shibao as saying.

The statement at the same time dismissed the local community's assumption that international flights could threaten domestic flights and passengers.

Xiamen Airlines said that it was the first time that it used a wide-body aircraft to go to Kabul.

Xiamen selects its flight crew based on experience, particularly in transporting UN peacekeepers and evacuation missions overseas.

Prior to taking off from Wuhan, the flight crew had received special training in dealing with various situations in Kabul, as reported by GICexpat.