17:04

A Pakistani international student on a university campus in Wuhan, the city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak in China, has told of how he and other international students have been ordered not to leave their dormitories.

More than 100 foreign students at Wuhan’s Zhongnan University of Economics and Law had been allowed to visit grocery stores for one hour a week to purchase basic necessities.

They have now apparently been advised to remain in isolation to reduce the risk of possible disease spread, though it is unclear if anyone has contracted the deadly virus.



“There are lots of people in this situation,” he said. “I am not alone. For the past few days, we have been told to stay in our room and not go anywhere. Our exterior doors are locked and we cannot go outside.”



A woman uses a thermal imaging device to screen the temperatures of students at the entrance to Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan. Photograph: Stanislav Yanushauskas/TASS

He and his fellow students spend most of their time in their rooms, only leaving to cook food in bulk to then refrigerate. The student said:

We try to avoid talking to each other because we are scared. Face-to-face contact is limited and most of the time I stayed in my room. We speak over the internet.

Since the university was closed in the beginning of January, students from Bangladesh, Nepal, Russia and elsewhere have been returned to their home countries, but those from some African and Latin American states are also among those who pass the days reading books, phoning home and watching TV.

Movement has been increasingly restricted and prices of groceries have allegedly doubled.

The student said the university administration was trying its best to manage the situation, but is required to keep the students indoors.



They have basically told us if one of us gets infected, it will spread quickly to everyone else as we live in close proximity. At the moment we don’t know if anyone is infected or not, we are so afraid. It still feels like a worst nightmare.

Pakistani authorities have reportedly said that more than 500 students from the country are in Wuhan, but no plans for their evacuation have yet been announced.

The Pakistani student said:

