China hunts for travellers from virus epicentre Wuhan

In China, groups have been formed to search for people. These people are not looking for criminals. But instead they are on the look out for people who have travelled from Wuhan to other parts of the country.

Wuhan has been under lockdown ever since the outbreak of the coronavirus. The virus has claimed the lives of 360 and infected 17,300 people globally.   

Some are offering cash rewards for information on people from Wuhan.

The extended Lunar New Year holiday has raised concerns that coronavirus could spread further with people travelling across the country.

Some Beijing residents have come up with makeshift barriers to avoid any contact with the outside world.

In Shijiazhuang city, a 2,000 yuan ($288) cash incentives is offered to anyone giving information about anyone who has come to the city from Wuhan in the past few weeks.

Lucy Huang, a documentary maker living in Beijing, cooking food at her house in Beijing. AFP

China has scrambled to contain the epidemic by halting transport from Wuhan, suspending overseas tour groups, cutting long-distance bus routes, and suspending thousands of trains.

But the virus has continued to spread, killing more than 360 people and infecting more than 17,000 across the country.

Most of those infections — 11,177 — are in Hubei. All but one of the 57 deaths reported on Monday were in the province.

Beijing, in comparison, has reported 191 cases.

'Bottom-up' tracking

Though some neighbourhoods have taken the extreme stance of blocking visitors or residents from Hubei, many will allow travellers back in — but monitor them stringently over a two-week quarantine period.

People wearing face masks as they shop in Beijing. AFP

Once back in their homes, "they cannot go in and out," explained Xu Aimin, secretary of a neighbourhood in Beijing.

If they need to buy food, the neighbourhood committee can do that for them, she explained.

Residents from Hubei province also receive daily phone calls and have their temperature recorded during quarantine, she added.

The virus has already spread in large numbers across China, despite drastic government lockdown measures in Hubei, highlighting the challenge of countering a pathogen like this.

Security guard wearing a protective face mask at a compound with a banner reminding people to wear masks and wash hands. AFP

On Sunday, authorities announced lockdown measures for Wenzhou, a city of nine million people that has reported hundreds of infections.

Wenzhou is more than 800 kilometres (500 miles) by road from Wuhan.

Wuhan stigma

It is a concern shared by the Beijing government, which on Saturday reminded community leaders they had "no power" to stop people from entering their neighbourhood once they had passed a temperature check.

Still, that hasn't quelled fears about the increased risk of infection from travellers returning home.

Gou Hairong, a woman returning to Beijing from Chengdu, southwestern Sichuan province, said that she had been barred from her compound.

A security guard wearing a protective face masks in Beijing. AFP

Stranded at the Beijing West railway station, the 24-year-old said her neighbourhood had told her she was "not allowed in at all."

"If they really don't let me back in, I'm prepared to buy another ticket home," she said.

The targeting of people from Wuhan and Hubei province has also raised concern of deepening stigma.

"How you see Wuhan is how the world will see China," wrote one user on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media site.

Lucy Huang, a documentary maker living in Beijing, said early in the outbreak there was a trend on Weibo of "everyone criticising Hubei people and Wuhan people".

"As a Wuhan native, I felt very hurt," the 26-year-old told AFP. "I felt disappointed that people didn't even have any sympathy."

While Huang said she understood the need for caution, she felt "our enemy has always been the virus itself, and should not be Hubei people or Wuhan people".