Canada has a plane being prepared to fly Canadians out of the province in China at the centre of an outbreak of a new coronavirus, Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Wednesday.
The government is also advising all Canadians to avoid "non-essential" travel to China and has also scaled back its diplomatic presence in the country because of the outbreak.
At Champagne's side, Health Minister Patty Hajdu said the government still has to decide what will happen with the Canadians who leave China, so as to prevent any spread of the illness. Some other countries have promised similar help for their citizens stuck in the province of Hubei -- particularly those that have diplomatic offices there, which Canada does not -- and Champagne said Canada isn't far behind them.
It also posted the contact phone number of 1-613-996-8885 and the email address of sosΓåòinternational.gc.ca. Tom Williams is hoping to get his wife, Lauren, who is about 35 weeks pregnant, out of Wuhan, the Hubei city that has been essentially locked down with the emergence of the disease. The couple also has a two-and-a-half-year-old son, James, who is Canadian."We're just currently waiting to hear confirmation whether we've got space on the British flight," Williams told The Canadian Press in a FaceTime interview from China on Wednesday, before Champagne's announcement.
"We're just a little anxious and hoping for some answers pretty soon," said Williams, who added that he and his family are "still healthy and still OK."
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