Guangzhou residents boldly placed their trust in the communist Chinese government’s ability to care for them amid the spread of a deadly virus which has already claimed several lives and gone intercontinental.

An i-Cable News team visited a wet market in Guangzhou to ask residents what they thought about the virus outbreak which had begun to capture international attention.

In the short TV clip, residents of the major Chinese city told the journalist that they were healthy and had nothing to fear.

The residents reportedly said: “We don’t care. What’s there to be afraid of?” before adding, “We’ve got the government. With the government, we have nothing to fear.”

To clarify, the reporter asked them if it meant they wouldn’t be wearing masks, to which they responded: “No masks! We are healthy. We trust the government!”

As i-Cable News is a Hong Kong based outlet, The Shanghaiist believes the recent conflict between Hong Kong protesters and the Chinese government may have inspired a certain element of “bravado” in their courageous, trusting replies.

An interview by @icablenews in Guangzhou regarding the outbreak of #WuhanCoronavirus in the country. And that is why the virus spreads so quickly. Video: @icablenews

Translated by: https://t.co/pRxFvfVf04 team#China #WuhanPneumonia pic.twitter.com/LpMwaXPCAY — HKRev – Hong Kong Local News Translation (@HkrevInfo) January 23, 2020

Following the spread of the disease since the recording of the interview, more than two dozen cases of the deadly Coronavirus have been recorded in the Guangdong province.

The total death toll, at present, is at 26, with hundreds of people suffering from the deadly virus.

Five cities are quarantined and 35 million people are currently under imposed travel restrictions from the Chinese government to prevent any further spread of the virus which has already been detected in several confirmed cases overseas.