GJ-CORONAVIRUS-RUPANI

Rupani seeks Jaishankar help for Gujarat students in China
    Ahmedabad, Jan 27 (PTI) Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay
Rupani on Monday urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar
to intervene after parents of students studying in Wuhan, the
Chinese city in the grip of novel coronavirus, sought help
from the BJP government here for their safe return.
    In a release issued here, the Gujarat government said
as many as 100 students from the state are stuck in China, and
informed that Rupani has spoken to Jaishankar on the phone and
asked him to intervene to ensure their safe return home.
    Coronavirus (officially described as 2019-nCoV) cases
were first reported from Wuhan, the capital of central China's
Hubei province. A few cases have been found in other countries
including South Korea, Japan, Thailand and the United States.
    The virus can cause fever, coughing, wheezing and
pneumonia. It is a member of the coronavirus family that's a
close cousin to the deadly SARS and MERS viruses that have
caused outbreaks in the past.
    Rupani's move came after Vadodara resident Shashi
Jaiman on Monday tweeted to him informing that his 18-year-old
daughter, studying medicine in Wuhan, was stuck there, and
sought help from the state government.
    "My daughter Shreya Jaiman is studying in Hubei
University for MBBS, in Wuhan city of China. There are nearly
about 300 students of India in which 100 Gujarati who are
stuck there due to coronavirus. Please take necessary steps to
take them back to India. Vadodara (Guj)," he tweeted.
    Speaking to reporters here, Jaiman said, "My daughter
told us she is not getting food and water since the last two
days as markets and establishments have been shutdown
following the virus outbreak. She is in deep trouble and we
have appealed to the government to intervene."
    He claimed 20 students from Gujarat were studying in
the university there and all were in a bad state due to the
lockdown caused by the virus.
    The death toll due to the virus rose to 56 on Sunday
with confirmed cases of the disease reaching 1,975 and 324 of
them being critical, Chinese health authorities said in an
official statement on Monday. PTI KA PD BNM
RSY RSY

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)