New Zealand businessman says China feels safer than Auckland, despite chaotic coronavirus reports

A worker sprays disinfectant inside a store as a precaution against coronavirus in Seoul. Photo / AP

There is little public unrest in China despite reports of chaotic scenes within the nation amid the coronavirus outbreak, a Kiwi businessman says.

Last weekend, another New Zealander said people were fighting over food, spitting on each other and reselling thrown-out face masks from rubbish bins.

"It's getting worse by the day ... everything has fallen apart here," the man, who asked for anonymity out of fear of his family's safety, said.

However, businessman Kchitij Tiwari who flew back to New Zealand from China on Monday said he often felt safer there than in Auckland.

Based in Shenzhen, the city that links Hong Kong to mainland China, Tiwari thought the other Kiwi was exaggerating "beyond reasonableness".

"Yes, there is a shortage of masks, however, everyone has masks to wear," Tiwari said.

China is not as chaotic as it has been described amid the outbreak, Kchitij Tiwari told the Herald. Photo / Supplied

"I have seen masks in rubbish bins along with other rubbish, however, no one ever picked them up [and] no one is shouting at each other at supermarkets.

"No one has ever come near me and in fact, I have personally found the local people going out of the way to help me."

Globally, more than 560 people were dead and over 28,000 infected with coronavirus after the outbreak started late last year, AP reported.

And the doctor who was detained by the government for raising the alarm about the virus has died.

Li Wenliang, 34, was being held in a critical condition at Wuhan Central Hospital where he was being treated for coronavirus.

Elsewhere, in Shenzhen, everyone was taking the outbreak very seriously, Tiwari said.

The temperature of a person is checked as a measure against coronavirus in Budapest. Photo / AP

Wearing a face mask had become compulsory, while many businesses and schools had been closed down with supermarkets remaining open.

People were buying in bulk which would mean stock would run out before the end of the day, only to be restocked the next morning.

"Things are implemented really quickly in China which is an advantage to control such a new infection," Tiwari said.

"Manual temperature reading is done everywhere you enter such as malls, metro and railway stations, apartment buildings.

"[People] are avoiding touching surfaces as much as they can avoid. Disinfectants are being sprayed everywhere multiple times a day, including building lifts."

Tiwari even ate KFC with disposable gloves.

An employee sprays disinfectant on a train at Suseo Station in Seoul, South Korea. Photo / AP

Meanwhile, Tiwari's entry into New Zealand was far more casual than when he left China.

Landing from Shanghai on Monday afternoon, only a handful of airport staff were wearing face masks and there appeared to be no border screening.

"One woman from the Ministry for Primary Industries who entered the flight to spray and three staff members at the air bridge had the face masks," Tiwari said.

"As soon as we entered the airport from the air bridge there was no one wearing the face masks. No one whatsoever throughout the airport."

Tiwari said after the declaration section they were processed through immigration without anyone handing out information about the virus or self-isolation.