Trapped and terrified in coronavirus country

As China frantically attempts to contain the newest strain of the coronavirus, a South African living in China says she has essentially become a germaphobe anxiously waiting for the nightmare to end.

This comes as the coronavirus took China by storm when it was first detected in Wuhan, in the east of the country, on 31 December last year.

Since then, according to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), as of Sunday the infections have risen to 2,014, with 29 outside of China.

One of the people caught in the middle of the drama is a South African English teacher, who asked to remain anonymous as she waits for the Chinese and South African governments to resolve the crisis.

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She said although she lived in Shenzhen, a city in the south-eastern part of China which is a fair distance from the epicentre of the outbreak in Wuhan, she was still worried because her city had also seen a number of infections.

She said her paranoia about being infected increased when she went to the local supermarket in her city to buy a mask, only to find that they had sold out.

“I’m so paranoid I don’t even want to go out because this illness is airborne. We are being told to wash our hands constantly, even in our own apartments.

“And when you leave the house and you go out it feels like it’s coming on to you and you just get very paranoid.

“When you order takeaway food, our apartment community has banned people from entering the building, so you have to go outside and get your food and when you get your food you get paranoid that the disease is stuck on the plastic!

“I find myself washing the plastics and wiping every product that I have bought. I am super paranoid.”

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She said she also felt like she could not go home because the airport was a public place so she could be exposed to the virus there. She fears that sitting in a plane for 18 hours could also expose her to the virus.

“I know some South Africans living in Wuhan had tried to reach out to Dirco [department of international relations and cooperation] and they were told they would not be evacuated. Meanwhile other countries like the United States and France are evacuating their people.”

Safety tips for travellers

The coronavirus was first detected on 31 December 2019 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) China country office after receiving cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, a city located in China’s central Hubei Province.

Since 7 January, the disease has become known as the newest strain of the coronavirus, also called the novel coronavirus or nCoV.

The Health Practitioners Council of South Africa (HPCSA) warns people travelling to and from the Asian country to avoid close contact with people with acute respiratory infections.

These symptoms are said to be flu-like and include a runny nose, cough and more. The organisation also advised affected people to “practice frequent hand-washing, especially after direct contact with ill people or their environment”.

• Avoid visiting markets where live animals are sold.
• Travellers with symptoms of acute respiratory infection should practice cough etiquette like maintaining distance, covering coughs and sneezes with disposable tissues or clothing and washing hands.
• Health practitioners should provide to travellers information to reduce the general risk of acute respiratory infections, via travel health clinics, travel agencies, conveyance operators and at points of entry.
• Travellers should also be encouraged to self-report if they feel ill.

Twenty-nine confirmed cases have been reported outside of China in 10 countries.

– jenniffero@citizen.co.za

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