Wuhan/Islamabad: A young medical student living alone near to the centre of China's virus epidemic is pleading to be sent home to her family in Pakistan.
The woman said that she is one of at least 300 students stranded in enforced isolation.
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Rimsha Iqbal breaks down in tears while talking to her sister Fizza Nayyab Malleck, who is quarantined in China.
Fizza is one of over a thousand students who are held in quarantine in China. She is in Jingzhou, in Hubei province, the area of central China which has been most devastated by COVID-19.
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The latest figures reported on Wednesday (26 February) show that in mainland China there have been 2,715 deaths among 78,064 cases, mostly in Hubei.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Fizza said the isolation is beginning to take its toll, "It's been really stressful situation. Every student is really stressed and depressed, we can't eat properly, can't sleep properly. Every day we get that fear (about) if we get the virus, what will happen to us? We are so scared that if, when we have to go out for more food provided by the university to get that food, we are really scared of breathing right now. It's really stressful situation. Students, those were infected, but those students got infected they were in the hospital, they were under treatment and they are still under treatment right now, the students they are with them. They are in quarantine and strict quarantine."
Fizza is afraid that she and others in her situation will be stuck in their rooms for months to come. The University's officials have told her things should get better in June or July when they're hoping scorching temperatures of around 37 degrees Celsius will not allow the virus to survive.
She said, "We even can't get outside to get food for ourselves, we are really depressed, it's been a really stressful situation we don't know how we will cope with this, we don't know when it will end, we don't know the circumstances coming next to us. We just want to go back but our government is not supporting us, they are making just useless decisions. Even they allowed Chinese workers to get into Pakistan, but they're not allowing Pakistani students to get into Pakistan. They said if we get into Pakistan we will spread the virus. We're not infected, we want to go home."
It's not just the students in China who are aggrieved by the situation they find themselves in.
Back home in Pakistan, their families are angry the Government hasn't sought to bring home the students.
Fizza said that she has heard that two Pakistani students have been diagnosed with the virus and they've been sent to the hospital. But she said that she doesn't know them personally and they were not part of the group of students she was in.
Her mother Shahida Iqbal said: "We almost lost our hope in our government and started to protest, but all goes in vain even they did not satisfy us and were unable to give any justification why they do not let our children come back home as Chinese people can leave after screening so why can't Pakistani people leave."
Speaking at a news conference earlier this month Li Bijian, China's Consulate General, said: "The students, when they stay in China, stay in the universities, they have better healthcare, they have better looking after and if, because you see Wuhan's quarantined and shut down, and movement of the people is highly restricted so if we bring them out and then it's easy for them to contract this virus."
His words though don't appear to have convinced the students' parents, who said that they'll continue to protest to bring their children home.
With inputs from AP
