Coronavirus:
panic and anger in Wuhan as China orders city into lockdown
Supermarket
shelves are empty and face masks have sold out as residents of city at the
centre of the deadly virus hoard supplies and retreat inside
Lily Kuo in
Beijing
Thu 23 Jan
2020 05.45 GMTLast modified on Thu 23 Jan 2020 06.33 GMT
A sense of
panic has spread in Wuhan as the central Chinese city was put on lockdown in an
attempt to quarantine a deadly virus believed to have originated there.
On
Thursday, authorities banned all transport links from the sprawling city of
about 11 million people, suspending buses, the subway system, ferries and
shutting the airport and train stations to outgoing passengers.
Supermarket
shelves were empty and local markets sold out of produce as residents hoarded
supplies and isolated themselves at home. Petrol stations were overwhelmed as
drivers stocked up on fuel, exacerbated by rumours that reserves had run out.
Local residents said pharmacies had sold out of face masks.
Few
pedestrians were on the street and families cancelled plans to get together for
the Chinese New Year holiday. Special police forces were seen patrolling
railway stations.
“When I saw the news when I woke up, I felt
like I was going to go crazy. This is a little too late now. The government’s
measures are not enough,” said Xiao, 26, a primary school teacher in Wuhan, who
asked not to give her full name.
Some
residents posted photos of their newly bought supplies of instant noodles and
snacks on social media. “No more going out ... so I won’t get sick,” wrote one
internet user on Weibo, adding: “Hope Wuhan can get some support soon.”
Others said
the elevators in their apartment complexes were being disinfected, and that
most of their friends and relatives in the city were also planning on staying
in as much as possible.
The
blockade comes as at least 571 people have been infected with the coronavirus,
from the same family of viruses that gave rise to Sars. It has now reached
almost all of the country’s provinces, as well as the US, Taiwan, Korea,
Thailand and Hong Kong. Chinese authorities said on Thursday that 95 patients
were in critical condition.
So far, 17
people have died since the virus was detected in late December, all of them in
Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital. Many of the deaths occurred in
Wuhan, where a seafood market selling wild animals is the suspected source of
the virus. Scientists believe it likely jumped from an animal to a human and is
now transmissible from one person to another, and could mutate further.
On
Thursday, some residents raced to leave Wuhan before the de-facto quarantine
was put into effect at 10am, lining up at the airport and at train stations.
Local authorities, announcing the emergency measure at around 2am on Thursday,
said citizens would be notified later when the restrictions were lifted.
Anxiety has
been exacerbated by reports that sick patients are being turned away from
hospitals without enough room. “Infected people could be right beside you and
you wouldn’t know. That is what is scarier,” said Xiao, who has not left home
since 19 January.
Wuhan’s
disease prevention and control centre released a statement on Thursday asking
residents not to panic and not to stockpile. “At the present time, Wuhan’s
reserves of food, medicine and other supplies are all enough,” it said.
Authorities
have made an effort to update citizens regularly on the situation and state
media have attempted to frame the current shutdown as a battle being waged by
the people of Wuhan for the good of the country. The state-run People’s Daily
posted on Weibo: “Come on Wuhan, let us win this disease prevention war
together!”
But
residents are wary of the information provided by their government, which in
recent weeks repeatedly said the virus was not serious and was still
“controllable”.
“I am a bit
panicked because before the government said it wasn’t serious so no one thought
it was a big deal,” said Wang Ying, 26, a government worker who described going
out amid large crowds on New Year’s Eve, despite the virus being detected then.
“Then this
morning, Wuhan was suddenly sealed off. I think the government’s early warnings
were not enough.”
Others
criticised local authorities, who held a Chinese New Year banquet of 40,000
people days before authorities announced that the virus could be transmitted
between humans.
“It’s been
a month since the first case was discovered and only now do they think of
closing the city? This Wuhan emergency response is a little slow, right???” one
internet user wrote on Weibo:
As posts
circulated online that food prices had gone up in Wuhan, internet users called
for government intervention. One said: “The government needs to address this.
If things become too expensive, people will definitely panic and when people feel
unsafe, terrible things happen. Right now people are fighting over supplies,
soon they may just be fighting.”
Additional reporting by Lillian Yang
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