Worried trainer opts to stay on with staff in virus epicentre
AN Australian racehorse trainer stranded in Wuhan says scenes in the coronavirus epicentre are “out of this world”, as officials revealed a record number of deaths in the city yesterday.
Rui Severino said news that 242 people had died of the virus in one day had sent shockwaves through the local community.
“The official numbers that they’ve released this morning are very scary,” he said.
The latest fatalities put the death toll from the deadly virus at more than 1300.
A further 14,840 people were also reported to have contracted the virus, bringing the total number of cases in mainland China to more than 48,000.
But Mr Severino said the increase might be due to a massive step-up in screening that started last week.
“They’ve been screening every single person that lives in Wuhan and in the province of Hubei, and I’m talking in the city of Wuhan 11 million people and they go to everyone’s house, every single house every single person gets screened and I believe that’s why we’re seeing these new cases,” he said.
The former Melbourne and Darwin trainer is working at Wuhan’s Yulong Jockey Club, where about 100 staff train almost 500 racehorses. He and his staff undergo medical screenings twice each day.
“Everybody wears masks,” he said. “We’re still working our horses, we’re still ticking over our horses but of course we are worried.
“But at the same time the feeling is, especially the Chinese, they’re very patriotic and they’re very united and there’s a big feeling that the government will be able to overcome this, but everybody knows it is quite serious.”
Mr Severino said the scenes on Wuhan’s deserted streets were eerie. Each family of four can send one person out for two hours every two days to get food, otherwise they have to remain at home.
“Physically it’s not apocalyptic – there’s no armed guards on the street, there’s no people following around – but psychologically it’s very, very surreal.
“When we used to go out you might normally see hundreds of thousands of people. Now you don’t see anyone,” he said.
Mr Severino said locals were closely following authorities’ directions and taking extra personal precautions.
He said he had declined offers from the Australian Embassy to fly home, choosing instead to stay with his horses and staff.