WALLED IN
Coronavirus – Chinese villagers build BRICK WALLS and checkpoints to stop killer bug in zombie movie scenes
CHINESE villages are building walls and setting up checkpoints to keep away strangers fleeing the coronavirus.
Five million people left the virus epicentre, the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, before authorities put it on lockdown in a desperate attempt to halt the spread.
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The death toll has now reached 106 and the number of infections has doubled to 4500 in the past day.
The virus has spread across China and to at least 16 countries globally after the initial outbreak in Wuhan.
Now villages around the city are building walls to keep out strangers, in scenes that could have come from a zombie film.
Xikangzhuang village, in Hebei province, has a wall and a sign at street entrances which says: "No outsiders allowed in."
"Our village built this. To stop outsiders coming to our village - to reduce the number of people coming in,” one villager told Sky News.
Meanwhile in another village in Beijing's far northeastern Shunyi district, residents have set an informal rule: "If you're here, don't leave. If they've left, don't let them come back."
Red tape has been tied across the road at the entrance to the small community.
Village committee members wearing face masks and high-visibility vests manned the blockade.
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Since last week, a public address system had been broadcasting messages warning people against inviting guests and urging anyone who has been to Wuhan to register with authorities.
"We grow our own leeks... we have a lot of frozen pork, rice and oil. There's no need for us to go outside," said villager Lu Weian, who lives in a traditional village house with high walls.
"Every house is its own quarantine zone.”
One resident of Hubei's Hefeng county told RFA people are being prevented from travelling to nearby areas along local by roadblocks even though its hundreds of miles from Wuhan.
"The road from Hefeng to Sangzhi is closed, blocked off with a wall at the intersection to stop people from going through," the villager said.
"We are in Hefeng, a small county in a mountainous area more than 1,000 km away from Wuhan.
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"None of the shops are allowed to open, provincial and national highways leaving the village and the county town are shut, and no vehicles or personnel are being allowed to use them. The situation is pretty bad."
Residents in Wuhan have been heard shouting encouragement to each other out of their windows as they remain indoors during the transport ban in the city.
In one video, 'come Wuhan' can be heard echoing around high rise blocks in the night.
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