Calgary family stranded in Wuhan 'relieved' as Canadian airlift announced

A Calgary man trapped inWuhan with his familysays they are "very relieved" after the federal government announced on Monday thatpermanent Canadian residents withkids will be allowedto return home.

BinZhang, 33, is a Chinese citizen who has lived in Calgary since 2005.

He told CBCNews that he arrived inWuhan, the city where he was born,with his wife and their two young children on Dec. 13 to visit relatives.

What they didn't yet know, Zhang said, was thatthe city was alreadybecomingthe epicentre of thedeadly coronavirus outbreak.

It has since claimed the lives of 362 people worldwide.

"When we first arrived we were completely unaware of the situation," Zhang said.

"[We] went out to have lunch, dinner, went to different parks, different places. We went on as if everything was normal."

Family left in limbo

Zhang said that just after Christmas,he returned brieflyto Canada alone for work, whenhe first began hearing about a respiratory illness in China.

"Some Canadian friends of mine were [asking], 'Hey, do you know about this pneumonia outbreak that's happening in Wuhan?'And I said, 'No, I don't,'" Zhang said.

He returned toWuhan in late Januaryto spend Chinese New Year with his family, Zhang said.

But Zhang, his wife and their children wereleft in limboas the city waslocked down and their Feb. 1 flight back to Canada was cancelled.

It was part of China'scontainment efforts that began with the suspension of plane, train and bus links to Wuhan.

That lockdown has expanded to 17 cities affecting more than 50 million people in what has become the most far-reaching disease-control measures ever imposed.

'Like we won the lottery'

Before the airlift was announced, Zhang told the CBCNews that his family was trying to maintain a positive outlookbut were anxious to come back to Canada.

Now that the Chinese government has agreed upon a chartered flight to take permanent residents with children back to Canada, Zhang says he is immensely relieved.

"We are very happy," said Zhang.

"My wife and I, we werelying in bed watching [the press conference] from my cellphone, and we were very, very excited. It felt like we won the lottery or something."

The federal government says that during talks with Chinese authorities about repatriating Canadian residents, its priority was keeping families together.

"We insisted on the concept of family unity," Foreign Affairs Minister Franois-Philippe Champagne said at the press conference.

Child-free permanent residents stuck

Family unity worked in favour of the Zhangs, but itis likely that not every permanent Canadian resident will be leaving Wuhan.

In order to prevent the spread of the virus,Champagne said,Beijing won't allow permanent residents without childrento leave the quarantine zone.

"If we were just permanent residents without kids, I don't think there's any hope of being repatriated by the Canadian government," Zhang said."But I don't know how many people are like that in Wuhan."

'Don't you be sick right now'

Federal officials are now on the ground in Wuhanto co-ordinate the evacuation of Canadians trapped in the region.

Champagne said there are 280 Canadian passport-holders, and 24 others, who want to board the chartered flight.

A timeline has not yet been established, but Zhang said his wife is already eagerly awaiting their departure.

"Oh, she's very excited. She's very, very happy. She was just as anxious as I was, but now after the news conference, we are all very relieved," Zhang said.

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The final hurdle for the Zhangsis to stay healthy; Canadian residents presenting symptoms will not be allowed to get on the plane home.

"Nobody is having any symptoms," Zhang said.

"[But] it is a stressful experiencebecause even if I give one little cough, my wife will look at me like, 'Don't you be sick right now.' That's what her eyes are telling me."