Leaving the city under a blockade, 5 million Wuhan people are now targeted by officials and discrimination by the people.

One person is denied all hotels after showing their identification card. Another was chased by the villagers. Third parties leak sensitive personal data online when registering information with the authorities.

They are all from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, the focus of the new pandemic pneumonia virus (nCoV) strain in China. They are just three of the roughly 5 million Wuhan people who are unable to go home or anywhere due to the corona virus panic.

The nCoV-infected patients were taken to a hospital in Wuhan in early December 2019, but it was not until seven weeks later that the city government issued a blockade order from January 23. At this time, about 5 million of the 11 million Wuhan people left the city, traveling everywhere to visit and visit the Lunar New Year.

Up to now, more than 420 people have been killed and bewildered by people in many countries around the world, and pushing the Wuhan people outside the blockade into the irony.

Despite a vast surveillance network with a modern facial recognition system and millions of surveillance cameras everywhere, the Chinese government has opted for the traditional way of trying to contain the disease, which encourages people to Local people reported when the Wuhan people appeared.

It took five days for the government to contact Harmo Tang, a student studying in Wuhan, after he returned to his hometown in Lin Hai, Zhejiang Province, eastern China. Tang said he quarantined himself when local officials sought personal information such as his name, address, telephone number, ID card and the day he returned from Wuhan. Shortly thereafter, Tang's personal information began to circulate online with a list of others who had just returned from Wuhan to Lam Hai.

Local officials did not give an explanation for the leak, but a few days later, they posted a notice on Tang's door, saying that someone was returning from Wuhan in the house.

The notice also includes a hotline phone number for neighbors to report if they see anyone leaving the house. Tang said he receives about 4 calls a day from different local government agencies. "I don't feel very comfortable," he said.

China has good reason to closely monitor those at risk of nCoV infection, especially those from Wuhan. However, experts warn that quarantining a group of people who have already been hurt from society is likely to backfire, further harm the public's trust, and cause those who need to be monitored and screened. tendency to hide more closely.

The "hunt" was so fierce that a district government in Hubei offered a reward of 1,000 yuan (US $ 140) to any resident who reported a local Wuhan. Online images show towns near Wuhan blocking the way or sending guards to guard and prevent people from entering the village.

In Jiangsu province, authorities even erected a fence around a family who had just returned from Wuhan. To get food, they have to ask neighbors to move households, according to local media.

Fearing for the safety of their children when the situation showed no signs of improvement, Andy Li, a technology engineer from Wuhan traveling with his family to Beijing, rented a car and started heading south. to Guangdong, in hopes of staying with a relative's family there. In Nanjing, they were rejected by many hotels, but were eventually offered a room by a luxury hotel.

The whole family isolated themselves for 4 days until the local authorities asked all people from Wuhan to move to a hotel near the city central station. Li said the designated hotel did not really do well in isolation. The food delivery staff was still comfortable coming and going. The gap under the room door is relatively wide.

"They only focus on isolating the Wuhan people from the Nanjing people," Li said. "They don't care about the Wuhan people spreading the disease to each other."

To fix it, Li grabbed a napkin and a towel, which was inserted tightly under the door. "I don't complain about the government," Li said. "There is always a gap in policy. But I am really worried about my children."

The government's campaign to isolate the Wuhan people has disrupted life in unexpected ways. Jia Yuting, a 21-year-old student in Wuhan, returned to her hometown in central China for 18 days, beyond the 14-day isolation period, when she heard her grandfather was ill in the next village. When visiting him, she followed the instructions on the local loudspeaker and registered personal information with the local party committee.

When a high school teacher suddenly contacted to inquire about the health situation on the WeChat messaging app, Jia learned his personal information had leaked. Jia also received a threatening call from an unknown man.

Authorities did not explain why Jia's information was leaked, but insisted it would not affect her normal life. Three days after Jia visited, her grandfather passed away. Local officials immediately informed Jia's family that she was not allowed to return to the village to attend the funeral.

"I felt like the villagers were lacking in information, and the government didn't help much. Instead, they published my information without telling people that I didn't have any symptoms," Jia said. know, adding that she felt guilty not being able to support her in the most difficult moment.