The announcement of the Evacuation of the American Consulate of Shanghai arrives as many expatriates seek to leave the country as soon as possible.
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In the face of the prolongation of the confinement in Shanghai, the US State Department has “ordered the departure of the non-essential employees of the government and the members of their family of the Shanghai consulate general”, according to a statement of Monday, April 11 . The document calls for not going to Jilin Province and Shanghai “because of COVID restrictions, including the risk of seeing separate parents and children”, nor in Hong Kong, “because of an arbitrary application of the law “. Shanghai imposed a strict containment to its 25 million inhabitants at the end of March, facing the rise of Covid-19 cases, but the logistical difficulties accumulate: many people complain of lacking food, access to hospitals is complicated, and more than 100,000 positive people are currently in confinement centers with Spartan conditions.
For China, it is a “political manipulation” aimed at denigrating the Chinese balance of the management of the epidemic. China is “strong dissatisfied and firmly opposes any instrumentalization and politicization” of this evacuation, broke before the press a spokesman for Chinese diplomacy, Zhao Lijian. But the decision of the Americans reflects a growing anxiety in the expatriate community. Many of them have made their bags to leave China during the confinement.
The Embassy states that US diplomats have informed the Chinese authorities “of their concerns about the safety and well-being of American citizens”. Shanghai said 26,330 cases Wednesday, a new record, but their increase is now slower, suggesting that the epidemic could reach a tray.
Child separation, a limit
In recent days, the starting projects are multiplying among expatriates. “The separation of children is really the limit for me: if you have a child and you can not make sure that at any time we can take it to send it in a center, when it does not Is not even positive, there is a huge problem, “said a French, a father of a little girl, who decided with his wife, pregnant, to leave Shanghai as soon as possible. In early April, the publication of a video showing dozens of isolated children in a Shanghai hospital, five or six in bars, has shocked a lot in China. Since then, at least one isolation center allows the reception of families, but many hospitals continue to separate parents and children in case of different virological status.
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