WUHAN, March 28 - The city in China where the coronaviruspandemic began, Wuhan, has partially re-opened after more than two months ofisolation.Crowdsof passengers were pictured arriving at Wuhan train station on Saturday.
Peopleare being allowed to enter but not leave, according to reports.Wuhan, the capitalof Hubei province, saw more than 50,000 coronavirus cases. At least 3,000people in Hubei died from the disease.Butnumbers have fallen dramatically, according to China’s figures.
The state onSaturday reported 54 new cases emerging the previous day - which it said wereall imported.Asit battles to control cases coming from abroad, China has announced a temporaryban on all foreign visitors, even if they have visas or residence permits.
It s also limiting Chinese and foreign airlines to one flight per week, andflights must not be more than 75% full.Meanwhile,the virus continues to spread rapidly in other countries around the world. The virus is thoughtto have originated in a seafood market in Wuhan that “conducted illegaltransactions of wild animals”.The city’s 11million residents have been shut off from the rest of the world since themiddle of January, with roadblocks around the outskirts and drasticrestrictions on daily life.But roads reopenedto incoming traffic late on Friday, according to Reuters news agency.Andstate media said the subway was open from Saturday and trains would be able toarrive at the city’s 17 railway stations.Nineteen-year-oldstudent Guo Liangkai, who arrived back in the city after three months, toldReuters: “First of all, it makes me very happy to see my family.”Wewanted to hug but now is a special period so we can’t hug or make any actionslike these.”All arrivals inWuhan have to show a green code on a mobile app to prove hat they are healthy.Officialssay restrictions on people leaving the city will be lifted on 8 April, whendomestic flights are also expected to restart.Thevirus emerged in China in December and more than 3,300 people there have diedfrom the infection - but both Italy and Spain now have higher death tolls.Itis now battling to control a wave of imported cases as infections soar abroad.Thisso-called “second wave” of imported infections is also affecting countrieslike South Korea and Singapore, which had been successful in stopping thespread of disease in recent weeks.
– BBC