The Maldives Ministry of Foreign Affairs has revealed that Maldivians residing in China have been reported safe.

Revealing that they are working jointly with the Maldives Embassy in Beijing, the ministry via a statement revealed that they are closely monitoring the condition of Maldivians residing in China, where coronavirus is spreading widely since a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China was discovered.

This has been linked to a novel coronavirus, which consecutively resulted in over 140 cases and a few fatalities since the epidemic began in December 2019, revealed the Health Protection Agency (HPA) earlier this week.

While the ministry was able to contact six Maldivians residing in Wuhan Province, all of them are reported safe.

The ministry is also working with the Foreign Ministry of China to ensure the safety of Maldivians residing there, reads the statement.

China’s Foreign Ministry has assured the government that they will ensure the safety of foreign students in the country.

Further, they have also given assurance that they are implementing the set protocols by the World Health Organization (WHO).

As such, entry into Wuhan Province has been prohibited temporarily, under the protocol.

Foreign Ministry also urged all Maldivians residing in China to register at the embassy at the earliest.

On Thursday, HPA revealed that there have not been any positive cases for coronavirus in the Maldives thus far.

The Ministry of Health and relevant authorities have begun taking adequate measures in order to curb an outbreak of the virus in Maldives, which is expected following the high tourist arrivals from China.

The likelihood of infection through processed food from food handlers and market workers is high, with reports having attributed the outbreak to the country’s seafood and animal markets. While preparations are underway on the recommendations from WHO, Maldivians travelling to China are advised to take precautionary measures like avoiding animals, dead or alive, animal markets and even coming in contact with infected people.

While regularly hand-washing has also been pushed, some of the symptoms of the virus include fever, coughing and breathing difficulties.