Malaysian man staying put in Wuhan
PETALING JAYA: A Malaysian man who arrived in Wuhan on Jan 19 for the Chinese New Year reunion with his wife’s family spoke of being “trapped” at their home there.
Although the people in Wuhan are allowed to go outside, Soares Chen (pic) said, they are not allowed to drive and there is no public transport.
He said they were spending all day at home, watching TV and browsing the Internet.
Chen, who grew up in Penang, is based in Leipzig, Germany. He is a programming language enthusiast.
In a series of tweets, he said he is currently healthy but is under lockdown in Wuhan.
“I am sharing some of my own thoughts on the coronavirus from ground zero perspective, ” he posted.
Chen said he had boarded a flight to Wuhan based on reports then that there was no known human-to-human transmission.
He said he understood that it might cause more harm than good to flee the city at the time as there was a risk of carrying the virus to other places or getting infected during the journey out.
“The best course of action is to stay home and minimise risk of getting infected, ” he added.
He said the locals were not so much worried about the virus itself but rather at the “incompetency” of the government in handling the outbreak.
“Since the lockdown, everyone is trapped at home and have no idea what is really happening in the city, ” said Chen, who is now at his in-laws’ place.
He also mentioned about “no shortage of food, people are just panicking to stock food. But I don’t go to the market so I can’t personally verify”.
Chen said the rumours about overcrowded hospitals were making people nervous.
“What worries us the most right now is whether we can even get diagnosis and treatment in the hospital if we get infected, ” he added.
“We need more information on what is happening in Wuhan right now to make the right decisions. We have the right to know it for our own safety, ” he said.
