TOBA TEK SINGH: A student pursuing his PhD in Beijing’s College of Resources and Environmental Sciences has shared his account of how China is coping with novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), on his return to his hometown for six-week spring vacation.

Adnan Arshad, along with two other students (one belonging to Rahim Yar Khan and the other to Haroonabad), reached Pakistan on Thursday. He is scheduled to complete his PhD programme in July 2021 at the Beijing college that is part of the agricultural university of China.

Speaking to reporters at his residence in Chak 392-JB, Adnan explained how he managed to return home from the land “that is battling the virus by putting in the best possible efforts”.

He said he had come home on his own and neither the two governments asked him to leave China due to the danger of the coronavirus nor was there any hurdle as such, dispelling the impression that many places had been sealed. He said medical teams checked his body temperature at Beijing, Dubai and Islamabad airports. At Dubai airport, he said, he had to stay for nine hours due to transit flight.

Somewhat allaying the public fears, he said there were too many rumours and conspiracies and little reality on the social media about the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in China and other countries.

The Chinese government, he said, was trying its level best to ensure the safety of all international students. “The management of the Wuhan city university is providing meals thrice a day to all students to help them avoid their outdoor activities and save them from unnecessary exposure,” he said.

Among the immediate measures the university administration put in place was prohibiting the outsiders to enter the campuses and urging the students to avoid unnecessary outdoor activities, he said. The students in other cities too were provided with hand soaps, surgical masks and thermometers and the school hospitals were activated to respond to any medical concern.

Information on how to protect the students from the spread of the coronavirus was circulated and displayed at strategic spaces, said Adnan, adding that his university also ensured that canteens and other eateries on campus remained functional to facilitate the students.

The dormitory administration, he said, was also very active and monitoring the students. The students felt China was a home away from home, for they had the sense of safety and were given the due care. They stood with the Chinese people who fell a victim to the virus.

Beyond the university campus, the young scholar said the national and regional governments raced to contain the coronavirus, regularly updating the public on the progress and pitfalls.

“It’s heartening to see the World Health Organization (WHO) and regional bodies endorse the pragmatic measures taken by China to manage the outbreak. The very strong measures the Chinese government had taken included daily contact with the WHO and comprehensive multi-sectoral approaches to prevent further spread,” he said.

He said the good news was that the mortality in this case was not as high as was the case with previous such incidences. “The mortality sustains around 2.2pc these days and lots of patients did not suffer severe symptoms at all. But the bad side of it was lots of carriers passed virus to people around them involuntarily before they knew they were contracted,” he said.

He claimed that coronavirus was not a Chinese affair, just as ebola was not restricted to Africa. “Viruses don’t need passports to cross borders and have no religion, race or tribe,” he said.

Adnan said the incubation period of coronavirus was 14 days and it was recommended to all the travellers from China to Pakistan to quarantine themselves at home to protect their families, friends and the country because “Pakistan lacks even the mechanism to diagnose.”

He said he would take utmost care and would prefer to stay at home for 14 days before leaving for the college.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2020