International student started in Wuhan describes scene in coronavirus- hit city.

International student started in Wuhan describes scene in coronavirus- hit city.

 so he wanted to hear what life iscurrently like in Wuhan the Chinese city at the very heart of the coronaviruscrisis from an international student studying there considering the sensitivesituation in China right now and as he's close to finishing his PhD at auniversity in Wuhan we'd rather not jeopardize his safety or studies byrevealing his full identity or showing his face M as I'll be referring to himhas lived in Wuhan for the past three years or so his school has also warnedinternational students about giving such interviews so we are treating this assensitively as possible as we want to protect his identity so we're joinedlive by M a student still living in Wuhan M thanks for joining us

 firstlyhow are you feeling is your health okay good morning markthank you very much I am I'm very healthy and safe but restricted to myroom so I'll say for now I am very okay physically but mentally maybe I'm notthat okay because of the emotional stress that comes with being restrictedto your room yeah must be very tough indeed but we're glad to hear thatyou're physically okay we've all been seeing pictures and video of Wuhanlooking like a ghost town a city on lockdown which of course it is what haveyou been doing to pass the time and generally what's the atmosphere like inthe city so generally the city as you said is like a ghost city now unlike theWuhan we know which is very vibrant then nobody is outside because you're afraiddespite giving the lockdown we are afraid of being infected when we go outso we are all in our rooms I am basically in my room sleeping andsometimes chatting with my friends through WeChat and also monitoringinternational media so basically that is it we can study we can do anything wedon't have the mental strenght to study are you allowed to leave the house theneven for a brief period of time if you need to get the basic necessitiesfood water toiletries etc yeah we are allowed to do so but then you need totell authorities what you're going to do they have to query you so you only goout when it is necessary when you are going out you have to show your ID andthey take this screen you and when you are coming in also they screen new sothat is the only way we are allowed to go out but even when you are walkingaround the campus the security people ask you why you're outside you'resupposed to be in your room so that is basically the life in Wuhan and I'vebeen outside on two occasions to buy basic necessities but when you gooutside you see no cars from no motorbikes the steerer empty and thesupermarket were also basically empty but that is beginning to change rightnow he's beginning to change right now as the people are now coming out I thinkis going to be difficult to enforce there that the restrictions from nowonwards yeah it's tough to force people to stay indoors for days or weeks on endand it must be eerie to live in a city which has a population roughly the sizeof of New York that's basically empty but prior to the city being put onlockdown did people in Wuhan suspect something odd was happening did you seepeople steadily getting sick because at least to the outside world this lockdownseemed to come out of the blue okay okay Mac so basically somewhere in Septemberthere was an outbreak of pneumonia but we were told it is just one of thosethings because we are transitioning into the winterstarting from November so with that was just by the passing and then in Novemberthere was a major pneumonia outbreak that is when people actually became away that there was an outbreak of an epidemic in Wuhan but then also theblack teen was conceived so around the Christmas time that was 24 23 20 see itbecame very difficult because now people went awaythat there was an epidemic so we started moving only with people we trusted evenwhen we had taken taxes then from first second generally that was when the newsstarted getting with that there was indeed an epidemic but we didn't know itwas that deadly now war on the talking about whether we can trust what theChinese government is telling us there has been talked that the actual numbersof confirmed cases of corona virus is actually much higher than the Chineseauthorities are letting on from your own experience do you think that actuallymight be the case so much generally the agreement or the consensus in Wuhan isthat the numbers are far been underreported and that is the reason whyespecially with international student acquired more getting hopeless andworried because we know the case this is his worst than is being reported yeahand then we have some of our people who are medical student and they haveprofessors who are medical doctors and working at the front line so sometimesthey tell them 

their challenges they are facing that there are people who evendie of the corner virus but they are told to say the person had an existingheart condition like diabetes or hypertension or TB so that was whatreally killed the person so there's even this a reported allocation let me usethe word allegation that the some of the doctors were saying if the politiciansor the communist leaders are not the people assigned the cause of deaththen the Amaris will also get into the treating treatment rooms to treat thepeople so we know the cases of infection are quite high because they are morehospitals in Wuhan and they are overwhelmed there are more than 10hospitals we can confirm they are overwhelmed and they have bearingcapacity of more than 10,000 but to new hospitals needed to be built so thisshould tell us the gravity or the intensity of the epidemic or theoutbreak so those of us in Wuhan we know that death weight and the incidencerate are quite high there is being reported and finally I just like to askyou two questions in one because unfortunately we are running out of timeyou are from an African country won't say which one are there any plans byyour country to evacuate you and what about your family at home they must bedreadfully concerned have you been a it been able to stay in touch with themyes Oh Mike I'd like to start with my family so my family indeed they arereally they are really concerned they are worried and my grandma days BP iseven going high because of the situation here and this reflect the situation ofother families with their relatives here so I've been in touch with our embassyand our Embassy has categorically said that there are no plans to be back withus because they don't want to offend the Chinese authorities because the Chineseauthorities have told them that they are in the in fact they are in country incontrol there they are able to do or manage the situation so we should juststay put and add her to the preventive measures so at the moment they are noplans to be back with us even though we want to go home okay well it must beawful that's where we can have to leave it there unfortunately thanks foragreeing to share your story we know it isn't easy to do so in China especiallyat this time we'll stay in touch stay healthy please and hopefully you'll getto go home safe and sound thank you very much that was M a PhD student stillstuck in Wuhan the lockdown epicenter of the corona virus stay healthy thank youMark .