Fear grips Ghanaian students in Italy over coronavirus outbreak

The coronavirus outbreak in Italy has sparked fears among Ghanaian students in the European country.

A Ghanaian student who spoke to Citi FM said the corona scare had brought all activities in her area to a halt.

Italy has become the hardest-hit European country after it recorded over 300 cases and 11 deaths.

With lockdowns in the horizon, schools are turning to the virtual world to keep the academic calendar running while protecting their students from the dreaded coronavirus.

“As far as lectures [are concerned], schools are now trying to start online classes,” she said.

She added that authorities had already asked them [students] to plan ahead of a possible lockdown.

“We are supposed to be on lockdown until March 1. Prior to that, we were advised to go shopping and stock up on groceries to last the period of the lockdown,” she said.

Ghanaian students in Italy are not the only ones raising concerns over the deadly disease.

Their colleagues in China, the epicentre of the coronavirus, have on many occasions appealed to the government of Ghana to evacuate them back home.

Coronavirus: ‘Do you want us to die before you evacuate us?’ – Ghanaian students in Wuhan beg again

Despite these appeals, the government has not given the slightest sign of evacuating the desperate students back home.

President Akufo-Addo during his State of The Nation Address (SONA) said the government would only evacuate its citizens back home when it deems it necessary.

Coronavirus: We won’t rule out the option of evacuation – Akufo-Addo

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) had also kicked against any move to evacuate Ghanaians from countries hit by the coronavirus.

Coronavirus: Don’t evacuate Ghanaian students in Wuhan back home – GHS

So far, over 80,000 cases have been recorded worldwide with over 2,700 deaths, predominately in China.