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African students trapped in coronavirus-hit Wuhan plead for help
''Kanzira first received news of the virus in mid-January when messages warning people to avoid crowded spaces began circulating on social media. But the real worry set in a few days later when universities announced they would shut down as the number of cases and deaths began to rise.
For Kanzira, life under quarantine is akin to a horror film.
"The streets are empty; it's like a scene from one of those Hollywood apocalypse movies," he says on the phone.
Kanzira has at times ventured out to buy necessary supplies, another draining experience in and of itself. "When going out I double up on masks and gloves," he says. "The minute I arrive back home, I spray my hands with bleach, wash them with anti-bacterial soap, then clean all the doorknobs I've touched."
''For Salima, the rising death toll, coupled with a feeling of being abandoned, is hard to take.
"Watching our classmates from other parts of the world be evacuated has left many feeling depressed and consumed by fear," she says.''
''Meanwhile, medical experts from the continent appear divided on the matter of evacuation.
Kyeng Mercy Tetuh, a Cameroonian public health expert and epidemiologist, says African countries must bring their citizens home in a way that ensures "we don't inoculate the virus in the continent", while Tanzanian clinician Joachim Mabula says no evacuation should take place until "the issue is resolved, to avoid further transmission."
A source associated with Uganda's Ministry of Health says: "The decision of the government to not evacuate citizens is because they are aware that they are not prepared for the virus. However, the decision is rather short-sighted."
Africans in Wuhan: Homesick and fearful of coronavirus | DW | 06.02.2020
''Almost 5,000 Africans study in Wuhan. Running short of cash and food, many are demanding to be airlifted home. But most African nations have ruled out evacuating their citizens.''
''Nigerian student Abdul Salam Aji Suleiman says
he's hardly left his apartment for the past two weeks. He's studying in Wuhan, a city of 11 million which is at the center of the coronavirus outbreak. Wuhan has been locked down since late January and now Suleiman only goes out when it's absolutely necessary, such as to buy food.
"Before we go out, we have to wear these really good masks to cover the nose and mouth," Suleiman, a student at Huazhong University, told DW.
He wishes the Nigerian Embassy would get him and other Nigerians out of China.
"That's the feeling of all Nigerians who live here – they want to go home because they're scared of the virus," he says.''
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