Wuhan was locked down on January 23. We were told that something was wrong in Wuhan and that some virus was getting spread. We were being informed about it by the second week of December. But we could understand the impact of the virus only after mid-January. We decided to lock ourselves up at our home after January 19. We remained at home from January 23 to February 26. We ate whatever we had in our home during this period. We were told that after two weeks, everything would be back to normal. But nothing like that happened after the first quarantine.
After this, another quarantine, which lasted for 14 days, began. The death toll and the number of infected people were increasing sharply. People started panicking because the casualty rate was going up. It was then that we decided to approach the embassy and if there were any possibility of evacuation. I messaged the embassy on the February 6-7. We were informed that they were organizing evacuation but that would be the final one because people were already being evacuated by then. The embassy supported us in every way. My wife had the Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card, but we didn’t have an OCI card for our daughter. Earlier, we had thought of getting it made this year. So, the embassy helped us in this and they got that card made for us in three days.
When the city was locked down, there was not much support from the government. The only advice they gave us was to stay at home. There was no arrangement for food during the first quarantine. The supermarkets didn’t have much stock. Also, we weren’t sure if those visiting these supermarkets were infected or not. The government then started shutting the supermarkets. We were then advised to order food and vegetables on mobile applications, but then the prices were as much as three-four times higher than the normal market rate. We were also afraid of using those packets. We decided that we would consume whatever we have in our stores. But there have been people who ran out of food supply and they had committed suicides because of this.
We would get an automated call regularly wherein we were asked to measure body temperatures of every person in our families. If the temperature was above the stipulated mark, we had to inform the authorities urgently. The authorities would then come and take those people to the quarantine centres. If a family of four would be infected then there was no surety if all of those members would be taken to the same hospital. There was this fear that we would lose contact of our family members. If somebody’s family member would be infected and if he died then the other person from the family won’t even know that they have died. The government would all by themselves cremate the body within 24 hours. So, people didn’t know if what happened to their family members, say, if they recovered or died.
So, we contacted the embassy because that was the last opportunity before us. We were locked for 38 days in China itself. When we came back to India, we were kept in isolation for 14 days. The nucleic test was taken, but all were negative. But the government advised us to remain at home for the next 14 days.
In quarantine, you isolate yourself from the rest of the world. If you are infected then the symptoms would show up in three to 14 days.
During the first quarantine, the first 10 days were okay, we thought that okay some time is left and then things would get back to normal. But as soon as the second quarantine started, it was then that we started panicking because the rate of infection was getting higher and we were running out of food supply. We were mentally exhausted.
I am not going to go back to Wuhan until there would be no cases of infections being reported for over thirty days. It would not be safe to go there till. Also, there is no confirmation as to if this virus is a winter virus or a summer virus or it is a rainy season virus.
Because of this, industries and manufacturing units have been shut down, school, colleges, everything is shut. It would take a lot of time, to get everything back to normal. I don’t think that is going to be achieved in one or two weeks, it would take a lot of time. Many people from the US and other countries are still locked in Wuhan. People from Pakistan who are living there are locked. None of them have gone back to their country because their government has not taken any initiatives. Also, their government has denied their evacuation. People from Nepal, Sri Lanka, and South Africa have been evacuated.
