Wuhan’s central Chinese city started allowing people to leave for the first time on Wednesday. The city had locked down for 76 days to contain the novel coronavirus. On the other hand, people still worry about the second wave of the infection. This restriction are eased too soon.
On January 23, China sealed off the town of 11 million citizens after it became apparent that the flu-like virus that originated there late last year was extremely infectious and potentially deadly. The first train to out of town bring leaving passengers left at 00:50 a.m.
“I’m really happy, I’m going home today,” Liu Xiaomin, a migrant worker told. She stood inside Wuhan’s Hankou railway station, bound for Xiangyang City.
“Wuhan Lifts Lockdown” Became the Trending Topic
The hashtag “Wuhan lifts lockdown” quickly became the top trend topic on China’s Twitter-like Weibo website, leaving posters with comments like “Welcome back Wuhan.”
That’s only marginally more than the number of people who have contracted the virus since December in Wuhan. According to official estimates, the death toll in the city reached 2,571, around 80 per cent of China’s total fatalities.
During its peak, the lockdown saw residents physically confined to their homes and a ghost town resembled the transportation and manufacturing center, with streets abandoned except for police patrols and emergency vehicles.
Officials Suggest Not to Leave Residents’ Neighborhoods
But, in recent days, these limitations have eased as new infections have fallen to a trickle. Mainland China registered no deaths from coronavirus on Tuesday. And in the past fortnight, Wuhan has counted only two new infections.
Officials are walking a fine line between allowing greater freedom of movement and economic activity while still guarding against a second wave of infection. With particular concern about imported cases and people who have no symptoms yet are still able to spread the virus.
Wuhan residents are still being cautioned on Tuesday not to leave their neighborhoods, the city and even the province unless required, health officials said. Many people remain afraid of catching the disease with on April 7 China registering 137 new asymptomatic cases.