South Africans living in Wuhan, China have described the desperate situation that they’re in as the city has become a ghost town amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
More than 230 people have died while over 9,000 cases have been confirmed globally.
While the World Health Organisation (WHO) has described the situation as a global emergency, South African health officials have called for calm.
South Africans living in Wuhan are calling on the government to evacuate them from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan but health officials here said they had confidence in China’s ability to manage the situation.
Jocelyn Potgieter said that they were uncertain about what the future would look like.
“We are basically still on lockdown for the last 8-9 days.”
Leanne Johnson said that the situation was depressing.
“The streets are quite empty, which is really sad because this is the Chinese New Year, so it’s a time of celebration and people want to be out celebrating with family and friends.”
The South African government maintained that it was closely monitoring the situation in Wuhan and was ready for any suspected cases here at home.