Chinese lunar year, the most awaited festival for China, had to happen on January 25 with numerous get-togethers, family dinners, fireworks and what not. People from all across China took hours long flights to their hometowns in order to celebrate the Lunar year under one roof with their families and friends whereas most of foreigners flew back too.
Who knew that the celebrations would turn into despise when there would be an outbreak of deadly Coronavirus that would leave everyone thunderbolt.
The coronavirus originated mainly from the city of Wuhan (capital of Hubei province) where the local sea food market has reported to conduct the illegal transactions of wild animals such as snakes, bats, dogs etc. The consumption of animals by native Chinese resulted into a huge outbreak of virus which spread as faster as it could.
The coronavirus found in animals like bat and snakes found host in human blood too. It transmits by touching the infected person, coughing, sneezing, making the contact with a surface or object that has virus and later touching same hand to touch your eyes, nose or mouth. According to a research it takes eight hours to clean air of the virus where an infected person has coughed or sneezed.
The symptom of virus includes cold, flu, a running nose, fatigue, sore throat and high fever in rare cases. However cold or flu like symptoms usually set in from two or four days after the coronavirus infection.
As per the reports, more than 14,000 people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, while more than 300 have died from the virus. Although doctors and nurses have spent sleepless nights serving the patients tirelessly, medical researchers did not hesitate to play their role either, after days of struggle and deep study they have come up with antivirus vile and successfully discharged four infected patients after complete examination, although the government still is concerned.
The government has asked civilians to stay strong in this crucial time. Everybody is to stay indoors. Basic necessities such as food, water have been stocked up in every house while masks are a must-wear item. Furthermore, most of the public places have been shut down while teams of doctors have set up camps place to place for public assistance.
Wuhan hosts a lot of foreign students who are trapped and are unable to go back to their homes
The trade market of China which was supposed to re-open on February 7 will open on February 21 while schools and colleges will also remain closed for longer than the due date.
President of China Xi Jinping has assured that medical and food assistance would be provided to the affected people, however, the people of China have started to collect donations by themselves and showing their concern by donating as much as they can.
Wuhan hosts a lot of foreign students who are trapped and are unable to go back to their homes. Students from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq seek help from their governments. Four Pakistani students have been diagnosed with the coronavirus.
I am among those students who are trapped in Wuhan. We all request Prime Minister Imran Khan to help us. Pakistani students are going through fair and uncertainty. Please, help us. This is the time when leadership stands for their people. If not now, when?
The year 2020 started with bad news such as the Australian fires, Iran-US conflict and now the outbreak of the coronavirus. However we, being a responsible and educated nation of Pakistan stand with our Chinese brothers and sisters in this hour of trouble. We wish great China is back to normalcy as soon as possible.
The writer is a teacher in China