Coronavirus: what life is like inside an Australian quarantine camp after being trapped in Wuhan

Australia has brought 532 people out of China on two direct flights and one via New Zealand, but many more remain in Wuhan waiting for further evacuations

The coronavirus has claimed over 1,000 lives, while infections have risen to more than 40,000 worldwide, with large parts of China still on lockdown

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The Munigurr-ma camping facility in Howard Springs is located around 25km outside Darwin. Photo: Stanley

Published: 12:15pm, 11 Feb 2020Updated: 6:59pm, 13 Feb 2020

Australian businessman Stanley was finally able to walk outside without fear, the first time in two weeks he had been granted this simple task which now feels like a luxury.

Having unknowingly flown to the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in late January, he was one of the lucky ones to be evacuated from Wuhan on Sunday morning.

“I feel safe now, and relieved. The temperature [in Darwin] is high and it’s very sunny. The warmer weather is good for virus control and I don’t think there will be an outbreak here,” he told the South China Morning Post.

“Worse comes to worse, if I do get sick, I know I will get good treatment in Australia.”

For two weeks, my family and I were trapped in our apartment. All we could do was watch news of the outbreak on TV, hoping things would turn around

Stanley

For Sydney-based Stanley, who withheld his surname, leaving behind his parents who he was visiting in Wuhan was a tough and painful decision, adding that leaving his family behind felt like he was fleeing a war.

He had arrived in Wuhan on January 20 to celebrate the Lunar New Year with his 60-year-old parents only to be trapped three days later when the city was locked down, meaning he had no chance of returning on his scheduled commercial flight out of the city on January 27.