Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
AsiaWire
This Chinese exchange student with a fever who leapt out a bus window to avoid screening before being tackled by health workers in hazmat suits has now been placed in “mandatory” isolation.
The unnamed young woman, who studies in Germany, boarded a flight from Frankfurt and landed in the coastal city of Qingdao, in East China’s Shandong Province, on 29th March.
She arrived on the day after China began enforcing a travel ban on all foreign nationals as well as mandatory 14-day isolation for returning citizens.
She and others had been bussed into town and were to undergo further screening to determine whether they could observe their quarantine at home or in an isolation facility such as a hotel room.
But the impatient student, who officials said was “eager to get home”, leapt out a bus window and was filmed as she tried to run away through a park.
The young woman carrying a number of bags was swarmed by a group of health workers wearing full decontamination suits, video showed.
Immigration officials have confirmed that the student had been ill and was found to be running a mild fever of 37.3 degrees Celsius upon arrival.
However, she later tested negative for COVID-19.
The hashtag ‘Qingdao exchange student jumps out bus window to avoid quarantine’ has been viewed 350 million times on Weibo at the time of writing.
Qingdao People’s Government said the student was placed in “mandatory quarantine” for a period of two weeks.
Officials added that all returning citizens would be subject to a period of quarantine regardless of whether they tested positive for the coronavirus.
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