NEW DELHI: The family of a 22-year-old Tamil Nadu student who had spent the previous five years studying medicine in China has asked the foreign ministry for assistance in returning his body home. According to sources, he passed away from an illness.
The student, known as Abdul Sheikh, reportedly completed a medical internship in China near the end of his course. On December 11, he returned to China after recently visiting India. Sheikh had begun his internship with Qiqihar Medical University in the Heilongjiang region of northeast China not long after arriving in the country and following a required eight-day isolation period upon arrival.
Apparently, after becoming ill and needing to be admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), he passed away. The student's family then asked the foreign ministry for assistance in returning the body. The grieving family has also requested assistance from the Tamil Nadu administration.
In the meantime, the World Health Organization (WHO) has requested China to periodically publish its precise and up-to-date statistics on the COVID situation in the country in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases. China has been asked by the health agency to disclose information on genetic sequencing hospitalisations, fatalities, and immunisations.
Regarding the current spike in COVID-19 cases, a high-level conference between WHO and China officials took conducted to discuss the issue and gather further information. The Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution will convene on January 3 and the WHO has also invited Chinese experts to give comprehensive data on viral sequencing.
According to sources, In order to assist China and the rest of the world in developing accurate risk assessments and effective actions, it was further emphasised how crucial monitoring and the prompt dissemination of data are.
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