Yao shows some of the food items he has stocked up.
SIBU: Two Sarawakians are among nine Malaysian students stranded in the locked-down city of Wuhan following the coronavirus outbreak there.
This was revealed by Sarawak China Graduates Alumni Association chairman Dr Wong Siu Eing, who said the nine were unable to make it out of the city before authorities there ordered the lockdown on Jan 23.
Other Malaysian students studying in Wuhan, however, had managed to return for the Chinese New Year break, he was quoted as saying in a See Hua Daily News report on Monday.
Dr Wong said the nine are doing well considering the circumstances they are in.
“We have been in contact with them, and the nine want their family members and friends to know they are safe.”
Dr Wong said one of the Sarawakian students, surnamed Yao, who is studying at University of Geosciences in Wuhan, had planned to return on Chinese New
Year Eve on Jan 24, but had to stay back after the lockdown was enforced.
“According to Yao, he and his seven other classmates from Malaysia had to stay put in Wuchang – one of the three towns in Wuhan city.
They are not infected and are staying in their university hostel.”
Dr Wong said the stranded students had stocked food that could last them for three weeks, and that they also have protective gears like masks, hand gloves and others.
Photo shows a lone cyclist riding across a deserted road in Wuhan following the lockdown by authorities.
He expressed confidence the students would remain safe because their hostel was quite a distance from Wuhan city centre.
“The students are in contact with their families and friends in Malaysia. Although they are safe, their families here are naturally still worried.”
The other Sarawakian student, meanwhile, was identified in the See Hua report only as Balachandar, a civil servant undergoing training in Wuhan.
The report said he is there with his wife, and that both are fine and in contact with family members via social media.
Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province in central China, is the epicentre of the global coronavirus outbreak.
China’s National Health Commission yesterday confirmed the death toll in the country had risen Tuesday to 132 – with 26 new deaths recorded – with 1,459 new cases confirmed, bringing the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in China to 5,974