SHANGHAI • Expatriates are leaving coronavirus-hit China – and not just from the outbreak epicentre in Wuhan – as worries about their children take hold and private healthcare facilities start turning away the feverish.
Some foreigners also fear being trapped indefinitely as airlines cancel flights and countries quarantine or limit entry for people who have recently set foot in the country.
A growing number of governments are urging their citizens not to travel to China, and the United Kingdom said yesterday that its embassy and consulates in the country will maintain only a skeleton staff.
“It may be increasingly difficult for those who wish to leave China to do so, and there is a growing risk of UK nationals being unable to access medical care as hospitals become overwhelmed,” the British embassy said.
Expat chat groups are alight with exchanges on the pros and cons of leaving, and tips on visas.
“Wouldn’t go if we didn’t have kid,” Russian expat Maria Arkhangelskaya, who has a 20-month-old daughter and left Shanghai for Thailand on Thursday, said via WeChat.
Meanwhile, many of the costly private clinics catering to foreigners have started to turn people with fevers away, raising concerns among the expat community they would have to rely on local facilities if they needed medical care.
“I don’t want to go to the local hospital with a sore throat only to catch something else,” said Czech national Veronika Krubner in Tianjin, who is considering leaving the country with her 21-month-old daughter.
Private clinic Jiahui Health said in a Jan 24 text message to patients in Shanghai that it cannot screen for the virus and those who have a fever of over 37.8 deg C should go to a public facility designated for treating fever patients.
One American citizen who is based in Shanghai and asked not to be identified said he flew home to California last week.
“I’m not worried so much about the virus as I am about being forced to go to a Chinese hospital simply for having a fever,” he said.
More than 900,000 foreigners were living in China last year, according to a report in the official China Daily.
REUTERS
