Confronting virus, Wuhan people need special respect

After repeated negotiations, flight HO1340, originally bound for Shanghai from Osaka, Japan, landed instead at the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport on Tuesday night.

The plane was carrying 94 passengers from Hubei Province, some of whom had been stranded in Osaka for some time due to the novel coronavirus-related pneumonia originating in Wuhan. After the landing, the flight's 11-member crew will undergo a 14-day quarantine.

The outbreak of the epidemic in central China's Hubei Province has led to the adoption of stringent containment measures.

Given the gravity of the situation, strict remedies like suspension of public transport in some cities have been imposed to limit the spread of the virus.

But abruptly enforced transport restrictions have also created difficulties for some people from Hubei who happened to be traveling abroad, only to find themselves unable to return home during the holiday period.

According to sources from local Wuhan authorities on Monday morning, the number of Wuhan residents still abroad numbers 4,096. And the number of Wuhan people traveling elsewhere in China is much more considerable. Local authorities have issued an appeal that steps should be taken to help Wuhan people return home.

Most of these people had originally planned to return to Wuhan immediately before or after the Spring Festival, but their itineraries have been severely disrupted by the outbreak of the virus.

In a certain sense, these people, by staying away from their homes, are contributing to the anti-epidemic cause in their own way.

But by observing the festival far from their hometowns, these people from Hubei have suffered. And they will suffer again if they are stigmatized simply for their place of origin.

There have been recent media reports that some people from Hubei were refused to check into hotels. Several even found their personal information leaked online, and have since received nuisance calls.

Such annoying behavior does little to prevent the spread of the epidemic. Moreover, peoples' aimless wondering will only make containment of the virus more difficult.

Fortunately, many cities are already going out of their way to accommodate people from Hubei.

In Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, for example, information circulating online is available to guide people from Hubei to places where accommodations and meals are freely provided.

In Huidong County, also in Guangdong, there have been circulars requiring local governments to put up people from Hubei in designated hotels to help them remain quarantined.

Such initiatives, by proactively addressing the needs of Hubei people as part of the epidemic control effort, deserve to be emulated by all local governments.

All our compatriots are contributing to the anti-epidemic endeavor in their own way, but the particular sacrifices made by people from Hubei deserve our special respect.