Beijing says work on to facilitate return of students after 2 years; visa, flight curbs had kept them being on campus
A medic inoculates a school student with a dose of ‘Corbevax’, in Bengaluru, on March 30, 2022. The government plans to expedite the process of recognition of Corbevax by other countries, while its maker Biological E pursues WHO’s emergency use listing. Pic/AFP
China on Friday announced plans to permit the return of “some” Indian students stuck at home for over two years following the visa and flight restrictions imposed by Beijing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here that “China attaches high importance to Indian students’ concerns about returning to China for studies. We have shared with the Indian sides the procedures and experience of other countries’ students returning to China”.
As per earlier reports, over 23,000 Indian students, mostly studying medicine in Chinese colleges, are stuck in India after they returned home as the Coronavirus broke out in China in December 2019. They could not return to China due to the restrictions imposed by the Chinese government to arrest the spread of the contagion. Besides the students, hundreds of families of Indians working in China were also stuck back home in view of China cancelling visas and flights from India.
“We understand that there is a large number of Indian students studying in China. India may need some time to collect the names. “China is ready to receive some of Indian students under the current complicated severe epidemic situation. In handling, foreign students returning to China for studies, we need to take into consideration the international epidemic situation, the evolving circumstances, and their majors. This principle applies equally to all foreign students,” Zhao said.
Asked about the timeline to permit the return of Indian students, Zhao said the Chinese embassy in India and existing channels will work to facilitate and offer convenience to the students.
Active cases jump to 17,801
India logged 3,377 new COVID-19 infections taking the country’s total tally of cases to 4,30,72,176, while the active cases rose to 17,801, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday morning. The death toll climbed to 5,23,753 with 60 fresh fatalities. An increase of 821 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded as 0.71 per cent and the weekly positivity rate as 0.63 per cent, according to the ministry.
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