Pulmonary plague: residents flee Chinese city under quarantine
(AFP) - 4 hours ago
BEIJING - Residents of a city in northwest China, quarantined due to fatal plague cases, have fled the area, some of them were told on Wednesday.
Three people died and a fourth is close to death in Ziketan, a remote town of 10.000 inhabitants in a Tibetan area of Qinghai province, according to the China News agency.
Local authorities have placed the city, which is about 200 km from the provincial capital Xining, under strict quarantine, but residents are seeking to leave it.
"Some people from the same hometown as me have left. They are afraid of pneumonic plague," a businessman from neighboring Sichuan, who works in Ziketan, said over the phone.
"There are checkpoints in the streets and the roads are tightly controlled. The only solution to leave is to walk," he added, refusing to give his name.
"I heard that a lot of migrant workers had left. They surely went back to their homes," he continued.
Local police could not be reached on Wednesday to specify the number of people who left the city.
Ziketan is said to resemble a ghost town, with most of the shops closed and streets deserted.
"My store is closed, like most of the others on the street, especially the supermarket and the bigger ones. There are just the small vegetable stalls," said a shopkeeper, also reached by phone.
“People are trying not to go out,” he said.
"Some families, including friends, have left the city, most to go to their hometowns in the district," he continued.
Medical teams are carrying out disinfection operations in the region and are looking for people who may have been in contact with patients, according to Chine Nouvelle.
Pulmonary plague is the most virulent form of the disease, but also the least common.
Antibiotic treatment is effective if the diagnosis is made in time.
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