Coronavirus
Airbus with South Africans from Wuhan lands in Polokwane
The South African Airways airbus carrying South Africans repatriated from Wuhan, China following the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, landed at Polokwane International Airport on Saturday morning.
After spending days packing, giving clothes away and making arrangements for other belongings to be stored safely, one of the students repatriated from Wuhan in China this morning finally sent a message: “We have landed. I am home.”
The student who graduated in 2019 but was waiting to accept her degree certificate, said the flight was without incident.
“It was a bit hard to restrict our luggage to 30kg so we had to discard some clothes or ask friends to keep things for us and send it on later. We were so excited.”
She said they boarded the bus from the university at 11.15 am, South African time, in Wuhan on Friday and were taken to the airport. “We are still on the plane but we are waiting for the bus to take us to the hotel,” she said via text message. “We are finally home.”
The flight landed just before 11 am on Saturday.
Another student who had originally removed his name from the list but then changed his mind, confirmed that he was allowed on the plan as well after his parents convinced him to come home.
The students, who were studying with bursaries from the Free State government and other South African citizens were repatriated after having been in lockdown in Wuhan since middle January. Wuhan is considered the epi-centre of the Covid-19 virus, that has since been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation.
The plane was met by public health officials in hazmat (hazardous material or decontamination) suits and the students were seen wearing masks.
The repatriated South Africans will spend the next three weeks at The Ranch Hotel in Polokwane where they will be kept in quarantine. Anyone who falls ill will be taken to a medical facility. DM
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