WUHAN, China (CNN) – Even though it seems that China’s containment efforts of the coronavirus outbreak have been working, some residents in the city of Wuhan are not happy with the government efforts.
The town is in lockdown and some residents are running low on food and supplies.
It is making for a tense situation for many residents who have been locked in their homes for almost two months.
As the novel coronavirus outbreak spreads and the number of cases rise, countries around the world are looking to China and considering whether to enforce similar city lockdown measures.
The World Health Organization has praised China’s containment efforts with tens of millions still living within the extreme lockdown zones.
Some residents told CNN they feel like prisoners in their own homes.
As she showed her dwindling food supplies, one resident asked we not reveal her identity for fear of repercussions. “Many have stopped working and they have no income,” the woman said. “But the food prices are so high. Everyone I know is not happy. But what can we do about it?”
It’s led to moments such as one instance where Wuhan locals yelled from their apartments, shouting, “Fake, it’s all fake!” as one of China’s vice premiers inspected a locked-down neighborhood last week.
The residents claim that local government leaders were misleading the central government officials by pretending to provide residents with free and reduced-price food while, in fact, affordable daily necessities are in great shortage, as later revealed by both state and social media.
China’s vice premier ordered an immediate investigation.
To make things worse, Wuhan’s newly appointed top official, the city’s party secretary, has suggested that residents should instead be grateful to the government. That did not go over well.
Resident Zhang Yi told CNN, asking, “How is it they sent such an ignorant official to Wuhan?”
With his mother now in the hospital treating her swelling legs and heart problems, Zhang said he is determined to point out local government missteps even as he says police have warned him to keep quiet.
“Somebody has to speak,” Zhang Yi said. “I don’t want to be one of those who has lost every member of his family to the virus and yet never spoke up.”
After the vice premier’s comment was met last week by anger, Tuesday’s presidential visit to a different Wuhan community appeared to show President Xi getting a much warmer welcome.
Though social media posts and photos from the neighborhood WeChat groups suggest local police helped assure that, by apparently sitting on residents’ balconies to discourage any potential disruptions, there are real indications that life here might be returning to normal.
Officials are discussing the easing of restrictions and for some that will mean freedom, stepping out of their homes for the first time in nearly 50 days.
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