‘They are still kissing and greeting’: Chinese workers in Russia flee as coronavirus crisis escalates

Russia’s worsening crisis has forced the roughly 150,000 Chinese nationals there to decide between sheltering in place or returning home

The border town of Suifenhe has been in a virtual lockdown after the return of some 2,400 Chinese nationals from Russia brought a wave of imported infections

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Daily-wage workers this week in Suifenhe, a Chinese city bordering Russia. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:30pm, 17 Apr 2020Updated: 12:28am, 18 Apr 2020

As the coronavirus spread in Russia, a group of 500 Chinese residents of Khabarovsk city in the Far East decided to lock themselves inside an apartment block, imposing a regime of self-isolation that has been in place since April 1.

“Of course we are dying to go home,” said Liu Haijun, 50, a native of the northeastern Chinese border city of Suifenhe, by telephone from the building called the Tianyu Guesthouse.

“But with the border closed and flights cancelled, and rumours of people getting infected on the journey back, and because my business is here, we just have to stay put in Russia and keep ourselves safe,” he said.

The worsening coronavirus outbreak in Russia has forced the roughly 150,000 Chinese citizens living there to decide between sheltering in place or trying to cross back into China, where the coronavirus has been curtailed by drastic containment measures.

Thousands have opted to return home, including 2,443 at Suifenhe, bringing a wave of infections with them that forced authorities to close the border this month and put the city into virtual lockdown. Shutters were closed and doors bolted on most shops on Thursday.

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