Guangzhou clarifies size of African community amid fears over Ebola virus
Seeking to calm Ebola fears, official says rumours that half a million live in the city are wrong
A deputy mayor of Guangzhou has sought to allay fears over Ebola disease, saying yesterday that 16,000 African people live in the city, contrary to rumours there were nearly half a million.
A Guangzhou airport official also said the city was handing out free mobile phones to visitors from Ebola-hit countries so the authorities could keep in touch with them.
City border checkpoints recorded 430,000 arrivals and exits by nationals from African countries in the first nine months. But only 16,000 live in Guangzhou.
"There has been a misunderstanding. The count is about visits and exits, not the number of residents, let alone the number of stranded African people," deputy mayor Xie Xiaodan said.
He added that most of the residents were businesspeople, students or teachers.
More than 4,900 people have died in an Ebola disease outbreak in West Africa. The World Health Organisation estimates there have been 13,703 cases of the disease in the region. Most have occurred in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Barry Sultane, a leader of the Guinean community in Guangzhou and a businessman who has lived in the city for 10 years, said the need for clarification was understandable.