While hundreds of people want to leave China, some Canadians who work there are not afraid of the corona virus.

Tanya Thiessen is the principal of the Canadian International School in Guangzhou, China. She and a group of lecturers, including many Canadians, worked at an international school of various levels, from kindergarten to grade 12. However, things were not the same as before because of the new strain of coronary pneumonia (nCoV). ) outbreak.

"Schools are expected to reopen on February 3, but schools in China will be closed until February 17, and may last until March," Thiessen said.

The pneumonia epidemic has also prevented many students and teachers from returning to school.

"All our teachers, like students, need to go through a quarantine to determine if they are eligible to return to school. The quarantine period is 10-14 days to make sure someone gets check for pneumonia symptoms, "she said.

Thiessen is currently in Edmonton, Canada, and is looking to recruit new teachers. While many people around the world are concerned about the virus, Thiessen and others living in an epidemic area have no fear.

"As a normal healthy adult, I'm not worried about getting a virus," Thiessen said.

Travor Metz, who runs a restaurant in Beijing and has lived here for 15 years, said he was not too worried about the pandemic.

"I'm not too worried. Although the situation is serious, I think being crazy or being overly afraid is unreasonable at all times," Metz said.

"In this city of 20 million people, almost no one on the street, everyone is indoors. I am very worried about the Chinese economy. Nobody goes anywhere. I cannot call the bar worker back." back to work because they are stuck at home and not allowed to return to Beijing, "Metz said.

Metz hopes things will calm down in the coming weeks. As for Thiessen, she is looking forward to going to China and starting the new school year.

The outbreak of acute pneumonia caused by nCoV began in Wuhan in December 2019, then spread to all of China's 31 provinces. The pandemic pneumonia currently causes 362 deaths, including 361 in China and a Wuhan man in the Philippines. The number of infections also increased to more than 17,000 and occurred in 25 countries and territories around the world.

Countries with nCoV-infected patients. Click on the image to see details.