One of the three Wall Street Journal reporters who was ordered to leave China has been told that she can stay around for a bit, but can’t do any reporting.

Chao Deng had been reporting straight from Wuhan, the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Because of the continued lockdown, she’s unable to leave the city and even the Chinese government has decided that it’s better if she stays there.

At a press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, China’s Foreign Ministry said that Deng would be allowed to remain in Wuhan on “humanitarian grounds” until the epidemic is over.

Of course, it’s unclear how long that will be.

During that time, however, the Foreign Ministry declared that she would not be allowed to do any reporting.

It’s snowing in #Wuhan. Outside my window, a man was smoking his cigarette and gazing out from indoors; a young lady has been her at her desk all afternoon; an older woman sat knitting. All waiting for the weather to clear, all waiting for the outbreak to pass. #加油! pic.twitter.com/6pQnUwCRcW — Chao Deng (@Chao_Deng) February 15, 2020

Deng and two of her colleagues, Josh Chin and Philip Wen, had their press credentials suddenly revoked last week over China’s anger with an opinion piece published earlier this month by the Wall Street Journal titled “China Is The Real Sick Man of Asia.”

The phrase “sick man of Asia” brings to mind shameful historical connations in China. It was used a century ago to refer to the country when it was weak, fractured by divisions, and under the influence of foreign powers and their “unequal treaties.”

For weeks, the Foreign Ministry denounced the op-ed’s “racist headline,” calling for the newspaper to apologize for “hurting the feelings of the Chinese people” and “slandering China’s efforts in fighting the coronavirus outbreak.”

When no apology came, Beijing decided to make its first outright expulsion of foreign journalists since 1998 and the harshest action it’s taken against the foreign press since 1989.

The Wall Street Journal’s opinion page responded to the move by charging that China’s real motive was not the “racist” headline but that they were looking for a distraction amid rising public anger over the coronavirus outbreak.

While Deng remains in Wuhan, Chin and Wen both left China from the Beijing Capital Airport on Monday.

Now out of China. Can’t express the depths of my gratitude to all the readers, colleagues and friends who‘ve reached out in support. Here’s a short look at my and @PhilipWen11 ‘s last view of Beijing, at least for a while: pic.twitter.com/Kk1qc7C556 — Josh Chin (@joshchin) February 25, 2020