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 The next day, Xiangkai, 61, woke to find that Xiangyou, 62, had
died.
The Wangs are among tens of thousands of families devastated by the
coronavirus in Wuhan, where the medical system has been overwhelmed
by the outbreak, despite massive reinforcements and two speedily
built new hospitals.
"What did we do to deserve such punishment?" Wang Wenjun, Xiangkai's
daughter, said over the phone to Reuters.
A crematorium sent a car to pick up Xiangyou's body, but the family
was told no mourning ceremony would be allowed. They could only
collect his ashes after 15 days.
Two days before Xiangyou died, doctors at the 4th Hospital of Wuhan
had written in a diagnosis that both brothers were likely infected
by the coronavirus which has now killed over 1,350 people in China.
CT scans showed their lungs had turned "white" with patterns
resembling cracked glass, symptomatic of severe viral infections.
But the hospital did not have any RNA test kits to confirm their
cases, and thus could not admit them for treatment, according to the
doctors. They were told to contact their community government, which
on Jan. 30 offered to house the brothers at the hotel.
Hubei province on Thursday reported a sharp rise in the number of
deaths and cases after changing its methodology to include those
diagnosed through CT scans like Xiangyou. More than 63,000 people
have now been infected nationwide and 1,380 have died.
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Xiangkai, a retired cab driver, refused to remain at the Echarm
hotel after his brother died, instead staying alone at a relative's
home. His wife visited daily, bringing food and Chinese medicine,
until she too fell ill with what doctors suspect is the coronavirus.
Wenjun lives on the other side of Wuhan. Closed transportation lines
means she is unable to visit her parents.
Desperate for treatment for her father, she issued a plea for help
on the Twitter-like Weibo. The community government responded,
saying the decision was up to the virus taskface.
At around midnight on Monday, the family received a call saying a
hospital bed was available. With no public transport, Wang's
58-year-old wife pushed him in a wheelchair for the 10-minute trip
to the hospital.
A new CT scan showed Xiangkai's lung infection had worsened. He now
has trouble walking to the toilet on his own and is awaiting the
results of an RNA test.
"On Jan. 22, our entire family had a Lunar New Year dinner, and we
even took a photo together. It has been bad news every day since
then," Wenjun said.
(Reporting by Yawen Chen; Editing by Karishma Singh and Kim Coghill)
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