Expatriates and students “stranded” in Wuhan, China, are in a state of “panic” as the death toll from the coronavirus climbs to 106 amid border closures and limited transportation in and out of the country.
“You walk out on the street, and it’s like one of those Walking Dead shows — it’s been very quiet, and that’s unsettling,” said Wayne Duplessis, a Canadian expatriate and teacher at Wuhan’s Weiming International High School.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said high-speed and regular train stations connected to mainland China would shutter by the end of the week, while Russia regions in the Far East are closing their borders with China until Feb. 7.
Countries with students studying in the area have handled the outbreak differently. Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told Reuters that every request for evacuation would be handled on a “case-by-case basis.”
Although many nations, including Japan, Spain, Britain, and the Netherlands, have arranged passage home for students and expatriates in China, the Afghanistan government is refusing to allow students to reenter the country.
“Universities are locked-down, and students are stranded at their rooms and are not allowed to leave their campuses,” said Afghani student Ahmad Jawed Beheshti. “Just yesterday, they closed off our university.”
Additionally, about 500 Bangladeshi students are among those stranded in Wuhan and calling for help on social media. Bangladesh has said it would notify them “if there were any emergency evacuation taking place.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed it is monitoring at least 110 patients across the United States as potential carriers of the coronavirus. In a statement released this week, the U.S. State Department said it plans to evacuate personnel from Wuhan on Tuesday.
“The latest information we have is that [the] flight will arrive in the U.S. via Anchorage, and then it will make its way to Ontario (in Southern California),” said Ivar Satero, director of San Francisco International Airport.
Those on the ground in Wuhan describe a deserted city where doctors wearing hazmat suits pick up people that have collapsed because of the virus.
“Wuhan is a crowded place. A lot of people live here in the city. But when I went out to buy something, all the streets were empty,” said Nadim Mahmud, a student at Hubei University of Science and Technology. “A lot of people are in panic.”
