Coronavirus - those in China, and general discussion

[Tomsima]

The empty streets thing is not an overstatement here in Hubei - roadblocks have now gone up over the major crossroads in the city centre, so of the few cars that were rolling around, there is now not a single one to be seen. My sister in law walked about 20m behind our house to go to our vegetable patch and was confronted by someone asking her aggressively 'who are you? are you from wuhan? have you been to wuhan recently?'

 

nobody leaving their houses, nothing is happening anywhere. the supermarket down the road is still open, but that's about it, outside it's just the odd 100 year old grampa sitting on his chair by the street with just a scarf over his mouth, and then the police.

 

spoke to the British embassy again today, still no action. infuriatingly, of the people i have spoken to, most seem to know nothing about china: part of today's call went something like:

 

me: i have a flight from chongqing tomorrow with tianjin airlines, are you telling me you will not be able to help me get out of the province?

rep: what airline? ive never heard of that one. of course you won't be able to make your flight, all airports are closed in the province.

me: chonqing isn't in hubei province…

rep: oh…right…but you still can't leave

me: yes, i know, that's why I'm calling you and asking for your help…

 

 

[Flickserve]

@Tomsima

 

It’s going to take time

[DavyJonesLocker]

pretty deserted where I am in south Beijing. I will go stir crazy  if I have to stay in the house all day . I hate wearing masks and think the risk of catching a virus where I am is pretty small, but there is the social responsibility to others, hence i just wear it 

[mackie1402]

@Tomsima I got this from the UK Consular yesterday, but I doubt it'll be any time soon. I feel like it's more of a 'Oh, everyone else is trying to get citizens out? We'd better make an announcement, too.' 

 

 

So I've been chatting to some friends here in Hangzhou, and so far, everyone I've spoken to has had their apartment complex locked down from visitors and deliveries. They basically won't let anyone in. You can still get things delivered, but you'll have to collect them from the security posts. There are also pictures of police doing temperature checks randomly at West Lake, so even if you are just going for a walk outside, be prepared to get checked. 

[Balthazar]

11 minutes ago, mackie1402 said:

So I've been chatting to some friends here in Hangzhou, and so far, everyone I've spoken to has had their apartment complex locked down from visitors and deliveries. They basically won't let anyone in. You can still get things delivered, but you'll have to collect them from the security posts.

 

Same here in Suzhou (as of today in our neighborhood).

 

Crossing fingers that the roads to Shanghai won't be closed by Saturday, when we're heading to the airport.

[ChTTay]

Yes, some Beijing Apartment communities have started checking people upon entry. They also stop deliveries etc. I have heard of some checking ID’s (for some reason?!) and also temperature checks. Today I saw guards checking all car passengers temperature. However, we rolled through no problem on a bike. 

[suMMit]

7 minutes ago, ChTTay said:

 I have heard of some checking ID’s (for some reason?!)

Maybe they are checking to see if they are from Hubei?

[Jim]

Village where my daughter's old preschool is, just over county line in Changping, has started blocking roads and not letting outsiders in, which includes quite a few parents who have rented places there because they send their kids to the Steiner schools also there. Think if they've been away for New year they're not getting back in, even if it's their usual place of residence, which seems off. Only got that off a WeChat group though so bar the fact of the road blocks not sure about the rest.

[mackie1402]

@Tomsima Just got an update:

 

[ChTTay]

50 minutes ago, Jim said:

Village where my daughter's old preschool is, just over county line in Changping,

My ayi lives in a village outside of Shunyi (I’m assuming... as she’s my Ayi and rides a bike here!) and she has said the same thing. Village is blockading itself.

The same thing happened in Henan (and that I mentioned in this thread). 

 

@mackie1402 beat me to that update! It looks like things are happening if you’ve gotta register that you want to leave. 

[anonymoose]

I haven't read most of the previous posts, so apologies if this has all been said before.

 

I'm in Jinan in Shandong province at the moment. The streets are much quieter than they would normally be, though there are still a few people here and there. Most of the traffic consists of electric bike delivery men. It seems as though the buses are running as normal, but mostly completely empty, or just with one or two passengers.

 

It seems that most of the large hotels are empty. This is likely mainly due to people not traveling, but also the hotels are not taking reservations. We had to change hotel yesterday as the one we were staying in previously would not take new reservations. Same with the one we are currently staying in. Ours is the only room still occupied in the hotel which has over 100 rooms. The hotel was very keen to confirm that we would be leaving tomorrow. We also get our temperatures checked and documented daily by the hotel.

 

Most of the shops are closed. Those that remain open mostly have restricted hours - the shopping malls which are usually open until 10 pm or so seem to be closing at 6 pm. All of the tourist sites throughout the province have been closed indefinitely - museums, temples, ticketed parks, everything. This doesn't make for a very exciting travel experience.

 

It's difficult to gauge what most people's feelings towards the crisis is. However, it seems like most people are heeding the official advice to stay at home. Those that aren't aren't likely to be representative of the general population. However, most people seen in public are wearing masks. Many residential areas are banning outside vehicles from entering.

 

Predictably, some ridiculous conspiracy theories are circulating, such is this virus was deliberately introduced by the USA.

 

 

[suMMit]

sorry if this has already been posted:

 

⚠️⚠️⚠️If you are a British national in Hubei Province, please call +86 (0) 10 8529 6600 or (+44) (0)207 008 1500 to register your desire to leave before 29th Jan 11am.

[Tomsima]

I just called up. Theyre looking at an evacuation flight on the 30th, British nationals only, no chinese nationals (apparently chinese govt will not allow them on the plane), one piece of luggage (15kg), flying from wuhan airport, at present the advice is YOU MUST FIND YOUR OWN WAY TO THE AIRPORT. "yes we are aware all cities are sealed off, and all roads and transport to wuhan airport are inaccessible". ok wat. well, looks like I'm not going to be on the flight, as theres no way i can get to it, and the gov won't help us to get to the plane at present.

 

also, right now the last place i want to have to travel to right now is wuhan, right to the epicentre of it all, then get on a plane with people who have been living in wuhan and are potentially infected without knowing it. i think I'm just gonna stick it out, wait for the province border restrictions to hopefully ease at some point, then go to an airport AWAY from the epidemic and get home.

[roddy]

Do you know any other foreigners in a similar situation. You won't be the only one. I have no idea what'll actually happen, but various things come to mind...

1) Drop by the local police. Explain the situation. Ask for help and advice. 

2) Find someone local willing to drive you. Be prepared to front up at roadblocks, explain the situation, and hope they're being halfway sensible. This will require an intrepid driver. 

3) Start walking and hope the cops in each county get rid of you by dropping you off in the next one...

 

Maybe others have more encouraging ideas. Good luck, and if you make it to the UK I'll buy you a pint. In 14 days.

[Tomsima]

gotta love the humour, keeping me in good spirits

[大块头]

Commandeer a 三轮 and make a break for it like Steve McQueen in The Great Escape. 

[feihong]

Five Wuhan residents tell their stories about the lockdown (in Chinese):

http://storyfm.cn/episodes/e319-diary-of-five-wuhan-people-after-being-blocked/

 

From 故事FM, a podcast that has been mentioned many times before on this forum.

[Weyland]

 

What do you guys these adverts? (Btw, they are not in Wuhan) And yes, I know these are common.

 

[suMMit]

I have a colleague stuck in Wuhan 市. He applied for a seat on the US evac flight, but was turned down because one of his in-laws was confirmed to have the virus, and the family are sick. When the in-law was confirmed by the hospital , he was sent back home to wait because there are no available beds in the hospital.

[suMMit]

Talking to my Chinese teacher yesterday, she said there are 106 confirmed cases in Xiangyang, Hubei. So, I also doubt the official numbers, I still think they must be quite a bit higher.