Government is dismissing claims by the minority it has abandoned distressed Ghanaian students in China.

According to Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Habib Tijani, they have released $250,000 to assist the students in the purchase of nose masks and toiletries as part of efforts to improve their wellbeing in this trying time.

So far over 1000 lives have been lost with more than 42,000 cases recorded since the outbreak of the deadly Covid-19 (formally Coronavirus).

The Minority had earlier issued a three-day ultimatum for the Akufo-Addo-led government to take action.

According to them, France, Switzerland, Philippines, Russia, Libya among other countries, have all evacuated their nationals from China as a result of the outbreak.

Minority Spokesperson on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa in a media briefing on Tuesday, said government is being callous and shirking its responsibility by not evacuating the students.

“Countries have reviewed their interventions and moved in to even do multiple rounds of evacuation. Ghana cannot continue to pussyfoot,” he said.

But Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Habib Tijani disagrees.

He indicated that government had released $250,000 to its Embassy in China to assist students in Wuhan and Hubei provinces, the epicentre of the outbreak.

He added that: “We are also working closely with them to ensure that these sums of money take care of the essentials such as nose masks, toiletries and other things that will be very helpful to those at the epicentre.”