China has now welcomed assistance from the United States as it decided to fight the coronavirus outbreak with the toughest measures. The decision comes as the country confirmed deaths of 425, with 64 new fatalities in Hubei.
In and out of Hubei, China now has 3,235 new confirmed infections bringing the total to 10,438. Six thirty-two patients recovered from the disease.
Amid this backdrop, Wuhan had since been in lockdown. All means of transportation have been halted and all roads were sealed off. Checkpoints are everywhere and people in nearby cities are encouraged to report Wuhan residents that might be breaching lockdown.
Still, people who want to leave Hubie province under special circumstances are compelled to travel by foot, crossing the bridge over the Yangtze River. However, at the end of the bridge is a loudspeaker with a message on a loop saying no one is allowed into Jiujiang, the city on the southern side of Yangtze.
Authorities are on high alert, threatening arrest for those who will breach the lockdown. Such is the case with a man from Hubei who paddled a wooden tub to cross the bridge to get to his work in Jiujiang. His motive of crossing does not pass the requirement of "special circumstance," hence his arrest. He was freed shortly but still barred from coming to work in the Jiujiang. Reports were not immediately clear if he is at risk of losing the job even with the circumstances.
Of course, the world weeps as a 50-year-old mother and her cancer-stricken daughter wrapped in blankets plead at the border authorities to let them pass. The mother, a farmer from a village in Hubei, was pleading to at least allow her daughter entry because she needs a second round of chemotherapy for her leukemia. The hospital from where they came from are filled due to the outbreak with her daughter becoming least of the hospitals' priorities.
"Please, take my daughter. I don't need to go past, just let my daughter go past," the mother pleads. Thankfully, calls were made and both of them were allowed to get through the border.
Meanwhile, the story of a child with cerebral palsy did not end with such a happy note. The child died when his guardians were both taken by health authorities for the required quarantine.
The boy was left with no food and water. Reports said that the father even pleaded through social media if anyone can go to the boy's rescue. It was too late, however. Two health officials have since been removed from their practice due to their negligence.
Elsewhere, others are trying their luck to get out of Wuhan. One father had his entire family in a car to drive all through to Beijing to seek refuge with relatives there. Unfortunately, they were turned away by hotels in Nanjing. When a luxury hotel finally turned them in, as he set up his family for their own imposed quarantine, local authorities caught up with them and placed them in another hotel.
Circumstances were also bad for students. Such as the case with one college student who was studying in Wuhan. He returned to his hometown in eastern Zhejiang province for a self-imposed quarantine.
Local authorities came knocking at their doors and placed police tape all over his place. There was even signage encouraging neighbors to contact the authorities when he or any of his family were spotted leaving the house.
Another student from Wuhan, who already finished self-imposed quarantine of 14 days, decided to visit her sick grandfather in a nearby city. She followed all strict protocols just to see his grandfather but it only took a text from a middle-school teacher for authorities to stop from her travel. She wasn't able to see her grandfather who died three days after her planned visit.
