Reportedly ever since china put a ban on transportation services in several of its provinces following the outbreak of coronavirus, there has been uncertainty and fear in the mind of kerala native Anaz*, a fifth year medical student, who has been stranded in wuhan City of Hubei Province of china, the epicentre of the epidemic. Like Anaz, 45 other indian students studying in wuhan university, have been spending sleepless nights apprehensive about what is next for them amidst the spread of infectious coronavirus in the region.
Anaz tells “We are desperate. We just want to get back home before it's too late. Things here are becoming more dangerous day by day and it might be even more difficult to get out of wuhan in the coming days than it is at present. We want help immediately". Earlier on wednesday, china shut down transportation services in several of its provinces including wuhan City as a means to curb the spread of disease. Foreign nationals including students have been stranded in the city ever since. Many indian students in wuhan had even booked flight tickets to return home, but couldn’t get out of wuhan, because of the transportation ban.According to the students, they need help to cross wuhan City and come to a province where a travel ban is not imposed.
Perhaps “Officials of indian Embassy had contacted us. Since we are more familiar with the region, they asked us what is the way to get us out. We said that it is only possible to get out of wuhan through a specially arranged bus. By road we should reach any of the nearest provinces where there is no travel ban and can take flight from there to India". Moreover according to the students, among the 46 indian students, 20 are from Kerala. Some students of the university had left wuhan to other provinces of china before the travel ban was imposed. “They all left wuhan in bullet trains, but we did not leave as we considered it not safe to travel so openly in the midst of the outbreak,” says one of the students stranded in Wuhan.
