Coronavirus: Man found dead in street in face mask in shocking image
Officials in hazmat suits deal with body found alone on city centre pavement
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Your support makes all the difference.It is an image that shows life behind the lock down: a lone man, wearing a face mask, lies dead on a city pavement in deserted Wuhan, epicentre of the coronavirus.
The photo – taken by the Agence France-Presse news agency – captures the grim moment officials in the Chinese city start dealing with the corpse, while decked out in hazmat suits and protective face masks.
Barely a handful of passers-by witnessed the scene, despite this being a normally busy and bustling street, the agency said.
It was not clear how the man – who was carrying a shopping bag – had died.
He lay on his back in front of a closed furniture shop. Medical workers and police shrouded his body with a blanket. The ambulance left, and police stacked supermarket cardboard boxes to hide the scene.
One of the few people standing near the scene told the agency photographer she believed he had died from the virus. “It’s terrible,” she said. “These days many people have died.”
Wuhan is the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, which is believed to have been transmitted from wild animals to humans at a market in the city.
The virus, which emerged late last year, has claimed at least 213 lives and infected thousands in China, with at least 159 deaths in Wuhan alone.
On Friday, the first cases in the UK were found, just a day after the World Health Organisation declared the crisis a global health emergency.
In Wuhan itself, authorities have imposed an unprecedented lockdown, blocking off roads out of the city and banning flights, in a bid to stop the virus spreading.
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