The federal government has access to a plane, but needs to go through all the red tape to get the 196 Canadians who have asked for help out of China.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs spoke on the phone with his Chinese counterpart last night (Thurs) to ask for collaboration with the Chinese government in helping Canadians get out of the country and Francois-Philippe Champagne says the reaction was positive.
Minister Champagne also broached the topic of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor who have been detained in China for over a year, which is believed to be a retaliation for the arrest in Canada of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition warrant for fraud.
Global Affairs Canada says the 2 agreed to remain in touch on issues of mutual importance.
A fourth case of coronavirus was confirmed in Canada – a woman in Ontario, who has already recovered and remains at her home in self-isolation. None of the 4 are in hospital – they are in self-isolation.