With the coronavirus outbreak keeping cities under lockdown, many residents of China’s Hubei province are now stuck outside their hometowns without a home. In response, Chinese search engine Sogou launched a new feature that allows Hubei residents to look for safe lodging and each other.
Many hotels around China are now shunning people from Hubei over suspicions of a possible virus infection, so the new Sogou function could help them find safe lodging options. It also allows them to look for other Hubei residents who have successfully checked into a hotel. So far, 453 hotels in 99 cities around China have signed on.
Many local governments in China have earmarked a large number of hotels across the country to accommodate Hubei travelers. With traffic bans still in place in many cities and public transportation shut down, many travelers from Hubei remain unable to get home.