The intensifying outbreak has led authorities to quarantine at least 56 million people in China's Hubei Province, including its capital city Wuhan, and halted all means of transport going in and out of many of its cities. The resulting pressure has predictably resulted in ever more desperate measures.
Videos and pictures circulating on social media purport to show frightened locals living near the border of Hubei resorting to various methods - including destroying roads and using weapon-wielding guards - in a desperate bid to stop people escaping from the other side.
Six villages in the province of Hebei, which does not adjoin virus-ravaged Hubei, even started to build brick walls to barricade themselves and stop outsiders.
One video shows the village of Yichuan using a digger to secretly destroy a road in the middle of the night.
Another clip captures the road firmly blocked by mud. A signboard is seen placed on top of the obstruction and it reads 'new type of pneumonia, control and prevention of the outbreak, no through traffic'.
In a third piece of footage, officials are seen blasting messages with loudspeakers, banning the locals from having gatherings or visiting relatives and urging them to wear face masks.
A video shared by Shanghai-born, Australia-based artist Badiucao appears to show desperate Hubei residents using small boats to try to escape. Audio from the footage indicates that the residents had been stopped by police on the other side while trying to get out by land.
In other viral pictures, villages officials have apparently sent weapon-wielding guards to prevent outsiders from entering their communities, and some of the guards can be seen holding blades and spears.
Residents in Xikangzhuang, close to the border of Shanxi province, have built entire walls out of brick, reportedly to 'stop outsiders coming to our village'.
Dongyinzhuang citizens have planned to create their own guardhouse – a large shed that has been winched into place by worried residents who have yet to hear from Government officials about what to do.
The central government has issued orders banning local officials from setting up checkpoints or blocking roads without authorization.
Not that it will stop increasingly desperate people. The deadly coronavirus has killed at least 170 people - all in China - and sickened at least 7,175 worldwide. It has so far been spread to 18 other countries and regions.
No comments:
Post a Comment