SHANGHAI: Expatriates are leaving coronavirus-hit China — and not just from the outbreak epicentre in Wuhan — as worries about their children take hold and private health care facilities start turning away the feverish.
Some foreigners also fear being trapped indefinitely as airlines cancel flights and countries quarantine or limit entry for people who have recently set foot in the country, according to interviews with eight people who are or were based in four Chinese cities.
A growing number of governments are urging their citizens not to travel to China and the United Kingdom said on Saturday its embassy and consulates in the country will maintain only a skeleton staff.
“It may be increasingly difficult for those who wish to leave China to do so, and there is a growing risk of UK nationals being unable to access medical care as hospitals become overwhelmed,” the British Embassy said on Saturday.
The virus, declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday, has killed 259 people and spread to some two dozen countries, although the vast majority of those known to be infected are in China.
Expat chat groups are alight with exchanges on the pros and cons of leaving, and tips on visas.
“Wouldn’t go if we didn’t have kid,” Russian expat Maria Arkhangelskaya, who has a 20-month-old daughter and left Shanghai for Thailand on Thursday, said via WeChat.
Meanwhile, many of the costly private clinics catering to foreigners have started to turn people with fevers away, raising concerns among the expat community they would have to rely on local facilities if they needed medical care.
“I don’t want to go to the local hospital with a sore throat only to catch something else,” said Czech national Veronika Krubner in
Tianjin, who is considering leaving the country with her 21-month-old daughter.
Private clinic Raffles in Beijing will take the temperature of patients on entry and suspected virus cases will be referred to public fever clinics, a person answering the appointments hotline said.
People manning the appointment lines at private practices Parkway Health and Ferguson in Shanghai said the government had instructed them not to accept patients with a high temperature, and that they should be referred to public fever clinics.
Private clinic Jiahui Health said in a January 24 text message to patients in Shanghai that it cannot screen for the virus and those who have a fever of over 37.8 degrees Celsius should go to a public facility designated for treating fever patients. — Reuters
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