Coronavirus: Disturbing footage shows suspected victims in China being rounded up and quarantined

Disturbing social media footage has captured Chinese citizens being quarantined by officials in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Photo / YouTube

Shocking videos on social media have captured Chinese citizens being quarantined by officials in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

One video shows a woman screaming inside a metal box as Chinese authorities use the container to take her into isolation.

The woman can be heard screaming after workers in pink hazmat suits close the door on the box. Her partner is also escorted out by Chinese authorities.

Disturbing social media footage has captured Chinese citizens being quarantined by officials in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Photo / YouTube

According to Chinese state media outlet The Global Times, the woman had been to Wuhan two weeks earlier and had agreed to be isolated, but when officers arrived to take her away, she started shouting.

A Chinese official said locals could not find a suitable vehicle in which to transport the couple because of the Lunar New Year holidays, so they built a "simple shed" to prevent the couple from being exposed to rain.

"She agreed on the phone to be quarantined in a designated quarantine area, so we sent a pick-up truck," You, a member of the Party Working Committee told The Global Times.
"At the beginning she had an emotional outburst."

Another shows a family of four being dragged out of a building by officers in hazmat suits.

The family, reportedly from Nantong in China's east, were taken towards an ambulance in the footage.

A third clip shows a furious resident of Wenzhou confronting militia guarding a quarantine roadblock, according to online accounts.

Separate footage shows a furious woman in Wenzhou being dragged away. Photo / YouTube

Wuhan officials have been ordered to put all suspected and confirmed coronavirus patients — and anyone who may have come into contact with them — into isolation camps.

China's Vice Premier urged them to take active lead in this "wartime condition", or be "nailed onto the pillar of historical shame forever".

Last week, a video emerged claiming to show a group of Chinese police officers forcing a struggling person into a van over coronavirus fears.

The footage was shared to Twitter by Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

He claimed the video showed police capturing a person off the street because of concerns they had the deadly coronavirus.

"Chinese police forcefully capture people from the street who potentially have the coronavirus," Hanke wrote.

"The communist govt's censorship and lies have simply made a bad situation worse."

The footage shows five people dressed in white hazmat suits and face masks appearing to try and shove a person into a van.

Another video, which is unverified, shows a family of four being taken away by officials. Photo / YouTube

The person can be heard yelling as they struggle against the group before eventually being forced into the vehicle.

It is unclear exactly where the video was filmed.

The video has been viewed more than a million times, and social media users have been horrified by the footage.

"A public health crisis is evolving into an humanitarian crisis," one person said.

"After being stuffed in a van with possibly contaminated people, he's sure to have it now," another said.

One person wrote: "Looks like scenes from a horror movie."

China's police have recently been called out by the country's top court for a too-harsh crackdown on online rumours about the virus outbreak.

The coronavirus has been likened to severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), which China experienced an outbreak of in 2002 and 2003.

It comes as a senior official at a crematorium in Wuhan says their intake has skyrocketed in recent weeks, suggesting more people are dying of the disease than reported.

The number of dead bodies received by the government-operated funeral home has drastically increased since January 22, peaking at 127 bodies on February 3, NTD reported.

It mirrors claims made by staff at several other Wuhan funeral homes.

An employee at Caidian Funeral Home, located in a Wuhan suburb, recently told The Epoch Times they need up to 100 body bags every day.

The video claims to show police forcing a person off the street into a van. Photo / Twitter

The individual said every funeral home in the city was facing the same situation.

The World Health Organisation is warning the opportunity to stem the international spread of the coronavirus outbreak is fading.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general at the World Health Organisation, said if the disease was not contained it could wreak global "havoc".

He also warned the virus was "more powerful in bringing serious consequences than any terrorist attack [can accomplish]".

"It's not just the health issue, it's a matter of economic, political and social upheavals," he said.

"I remind and will continue to remind the world to take [the virus] really seriously.

"We are asking countries to be as aggressive as possible.

"Time is of the essence."

The recently named COVID-19 was discovered in Wuhan on December 1 last year.

Since then it has spread to 27 other countries. More than 45,000 people have been infected and 1115 have died.

The number of infections exploded from 547 to 42,300 between January 22 and February 10.

In recent days, the infection rate has stabilised.