Two first secretaries of the Russian Embassy in China, Konstantin Nevezhkin and Maksim Tsygankov, in an interview with Sputnik, revealed details about their trip to Wuhan during the first stage of the COVID-19 epidemic to oversee evacuations of Russians from the city, noting the local government's extraordinary powers to handle the pandemic
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st December, 2020) Two first secretaries of the Russian Embassy in China, Konstantin Nevezhkin and Maksim Tsygankov, in an interview with Sputnik, revealed details about their trip to Wuhan during the first stage of the COVID-19 epidemic to oversee evacuations of Russians from the city, noting the local government's extraordinary powers to handle the pandemic.
Exactly one year ago, China informed the World Health Organization about an outbreak of unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan in the country's Hubei province. Wuhan was under strict lockdown for 76 days, and the quarantine restrictions were lifted on April 8. At the moment, the city is coronavirus-free.
In early February, Moscow evacuated 144 Russians and 16 citizens of the countries that are part of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The Russian diplomats revealed that it was relatively easy to enter Wuhan but problems appeared when diplomats wanted to leave the then-epicenter of the outbreak.
"We waited seven hours for the decision of the Wuhan local administration, which had extraordinary powers, and, even the central [Chinese] government did not have full imperative influence, it could not tell [Wuhan authorities]how to act. It was necessary to negotiate, the [Russian] Foreign Ministry could only recommend to the Wuhan government," Tsygankov said.
Tsygankov added that local authorities wanted Russian diplomats to stay in a hotel in Wuhan until the end of the lockdown.
Almost one year after the trip, the diplomats also say that making a decision to travel to Wuhan would be much harder if they had all the information about COVID-19 that was not available back then.
