- Wuhan.In the 'constipated' heart of an isolated and quarantined city
- New Year. "No one will be allowed to leave the city"
Friday, 02.00 (Thursday 19.00 in Spain)
I just sent the latest photos to the newspaper. I do not want to look again at the email or the WhatsApp because it is full of messages from fellow television and radio stations (both national and Latin American) asking for a collaboration from the epicenter of the virus. Especially, for the teles, a video recorded explaining what happens on the ground. And, if possible, that the fish and wild animals market is seen where the outbreak came out.
What I do before I go to bed is to review the latest data and information updates on Wuhan's coronavirus: more infected and dead, it has also reached Vietnam and Singapore ... And I answer my mother, who tells me that let's see if I call her tomorrow, that she will be with my grandmother and that they are very worried.
Already in bed, I look at the cell phone for the last time. And I'm curious: will Chinese Tinder work in a quarantined city? I turn on the TanTan, which is what it is called here, and I start to take a look. There are pretty cute girls within walking distance. But suddenly, I get a superlike Simon. A kid whose first picture that appears to me is a selfie in front of the mirror without a shirt, showing abs. Good night.
Friday, 08.30 (01.00 in Spain)
Wuhan has dawned as he lay down: wet and quarantined. The rain does not stop. In the hotel I am still alone. Not a more hosted customer . The day before there was not even breakfast. Luckily I have a few provisions left over from yesterday: a bag of almonds and raisins filled with raisins and a rare, more sticky and super sweet thing that I don't know what it is.
On the other hand, as soon as I go down to the reception with the intention of leaving and taking a taxi to take me to a hospital, I find that a lady leaves the kitchen and tells me that today there is breakfast. And on top for free . I get a plate of hard noodles with onion and baozi - steamed stuffed meat. The baozi is very rich. Oh, and the coffee machine also works. What a great way to start the day.
Friday, 10.00 (3 in Spain)
After a good while waiting for the application of Didi (similar to the uber in Spain) to answer me, in the end there is a taxi that takes me to see how the situation is in one of the 12 hospitals in the city where patients are admitted infected. In this case, I want to visit one of the biggest, Tongji Hospital.
Upon arrival, I'm wrong at the door and appear in the area of pediatrics. There are many children with masks in the hallways . Some carry intravenous routes. And many others are with their parents queuing for a doctor to do a review and certify if they have the virus.
The main hospital door is crowded with people of all ages . Adolescents, adults and elderly in a wheelchair. Do not forget that the National Health Commission of China detailed yesterday that 15 of the dead - when they were 17, now go for 25 - were people over 60 who were already dragging health problems. Even the youngest of the victims, a 48-year-old woman named Yin, had suffered a stroke and suffered from diabetes. And the other important detail in all this to curb a little the collective panic generated is that, among all those infected, there are already 30 people who have been cured .
Upon entering the medical center one bumps into a scene starring people with a mask that wanders from one place to another, people lying in the seats, others with their tracks on and the toilets that are adorned with their anti-infection suit. At the door there is a policeman, with a bracelet with the symbols of the Communist Party, asking him not to take any pictures. When in doubt, insist that I show you the latest images I've made with my mobile. Although the good thing of not being able to understand you in any language with the person who is fighting you is that you can play dumb, turn around and leave .
Friday, 12.30 (5.30 in Spain)
There is virtually no one in the streets of downtown Wuhan. You can barely see a few cleaning workers and an operator. There is a lot of fear of contagion in the hours before the New Year. That is why people prefer to stay in their homes. They have been like this for three days. And yesterday, after the complete closure of the city, everything was emptied even more.
Luckily there is the good Chou walking with his motorcycle and stopping every pedestrian he sees to take the temperature with his digital thermometer. I give 36º. Chou laughs and makes a sign of approval with his finger, climbs on his motorcycle and continues his route.
Walking along Jianhan Road, within the Wuhan commercial district, one runs into countless shops and stores of all kinds on both sides of the street. But all are closed. Supermarkets, somewhat further away, too. I only find an open fruit shop full of balloons until ... Bingo. A place where they sell you a kind of tuna, ham and corn sandwiches wrapped in a layer of caramelized cheese. It had been a day and a half since I saw something more or less substantial to eat. And you had to take the opportunity: I bought enough sandwiches to put the calories I need at least a couple of days to put up with quarantine .
Back at the hotel to eat the delicacy in the room, I find the only store - to call it somehow - open that has something inedible. It's a tent in the middle of the street that sells Hello Kitty stuffed animals. Nearby, there are several statues of Mickey Mouse next to a Donald Duck on a scooter, next to it is Bugs Bunny lying in an armchair smoking a cigar ... And a couple of metal giants kissing.
Friday, 14.00 (7.00 in Spain)
Just before sending this chronicle, someone knocks on the door of room 532 of the central Wuhan hotel. He is the manager. Tall, big man with a big blue surgical mask that covers his face. He chatter some English. Just enough to explain that it comes to two things: the first, to take my temperature . From the jacket pocket he pulls out a white digital thermometer, he focuses on my forehead and ... green light, just 36º. All in order, you don't have to run to the hospital to tell me whether or not I am infected by the coronavirus after spending four days in the epicenter of this rare pneumonia.
The other thing the manager wants is to give me a letter. "Happy New Year!" , is the first thing you see under my name next to a parenthesis that doubts if I am "Sir or Madam". Do not forget that tonight is the big dinner for the Lunar New Year. A party that this year is very sad to sing about the virus issue. "I'm sorry," the manager says again before he starts reading the letter. In a pink paper it says that hotel employees cannot come to work because, due to the new coronavirus, the city has suspended all transport ...
"Below is my phone number. If you feel bad at night, you have a cough or something hurts, you call me running," interrupts the friendly manager. "Happy New Year!", He releases again when he says goodbye. I make the unconscious threat of shaking hands as thanks for your attention. He looks at me, laughs, shakes his head and leaves.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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