A crematorium worker in Wuhan, China, confirmed that officials are working at an alarming pace to burn the bodies of the deceased in the city amid the coronavirus outbreak.

"We need to pick up bodies when they call us. Every day, we need at least 100 body bags," a crematorium worker named Mr. Yun told the Epoch Times. “We can’t stop because we can’t leave the bodies outside for a long time."

Wuhan officials were accused of cremating the dead in secret last week, and Mr. Yun claimed the rumors are true as China adopts "draconian measures" to treat the outbreak.

Dramatic videos from Wuhan posted to social media apps this week show scenes of sorrow and panic as medical officials and police allegedly chase infected people through the streets and force patients, against their will, into ambulances headed to the hospitals. Other videos show officials spraying what is believed to be disinfectant spray from cement trucks onto deserted streets.

China has turned sports halls and exhibition centers in Wuhan into 11 temporary hospitals to treat the epidemic that has killed almost 500 people — although figures from the Chinese government have been contested by Western outlets.

Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton has called for a travel ban to China and noted that the "only biosafety level four super laboratory that works with the world's most deadly pathogens" is located in Wuhan.

Three airplanes have returned U.S. citizens from China in the past week, and one of the children aboard the first flight is being monitored for coronavirus after developing a fever.