KURNOOL: The parents of about 100 youngsters from Kurnool district who went to China for higher studies are worried about their wards’ safety, in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. They are using various channels to demand that the government step in and bring the students home at the earliest.
Third-year MBBS student at China’s Jendu Medical University in Enam C Siva Prasad, however, returned to Devarakonda mandal in the district on Thursday. “I came back due to fear of coronavirus, though there are important classes going on at the varsity,” he said. His sister, who studies at the same institute, is expected to return in a couple of days.
Narrating his experience, Prasad said he was thoroughly checked at the airport as soon as he landed in India. One of his friends, Yeswanth, who also studies in China, returned to Kurnool two days ago.
A PhD scholar from Devarakonda who did not wish to be named said he was pursuing higher studies at Wuhan institute in China. He said he returned a week ago, but was quarantined at the Hyderabad airport and kept under observation for four days. “They later confirmed that I tested negative for the virus,” he added.
B Navya, from Lakshmi Nagar of Kurnool city, who is doing her second-year MBBS at the Jilin Medical College in China, said she was lucky to have returned in the first week of January before the fear of the coronavirus outbreak spread. She said she is in touch with at least three of her friends in China to know what is happening there. “They want me to come back as the region our college is in has not been affected. But I decided to return only after normalcy is restored,” she said.
‘Locality not affected, but still worried’
Ramana, father of a medical student from Kurnool who is in China, said though the area his ward is in is not affected, he is worried. “I have been talking to my daughter every day. She tells me there is no need to worry, but I am worried. I just hope everything is alright,” he told TNIE