Wuhan (TEH) – More than two and a half months after the closure of the Chinese metropolis of eleven million Wuhan, the place of origin of the pandemic has been reopened. For the first time since the beginning of January, China no longer reported any new deaths on Tuesday. According to official figures, there have been only a few new infections every day for weeks, and above all only “imported” cases among Chinese people returning home and other travelers from abroad.
At midnight (6:00 p.m. CEST), checkpoints were removed from the streets of Wuhan, where the new coronavirus broke out in late November or early December. It then spread to China and around the world. As the city government announced on Tuesday, normal traffic with cars, buses, trains, airplanes and ferries will be “resumed in an orderly manner.” The authorities responsible were called in to prevent and control the virus called Sars-CoV-2 not let up. The flow of people should be monitored at the local level.
Fever should also be measured and mouth protection worn. Kindergartens, schools and universities remained closed for the time being. It was said that a decision should be made on a scientific basis as to when classes would resume, and the eleven million residents should continue to pay close attention to prevention. Notwithstanding the opening of Wuhan, they should “not leave their living environment, the city and the province of Hubei if possible”. “Opening up the flow of traffic does not mean that prevention and control are abolished,” the instructions said.
“Opening the gates to the city doesn’t mean that apartments are opened.” Local authorities would have to ensure that there were no new infections. Only those who have recently had no contact with the infected are allowed to travel, and nowhere in China have so many infections and deaths been reported as in Wuhan, whose hospitals were completely overwhelmed in late January and February.
Of the more than 80,000 officially reported infections in China, 50,000 were in the metropolis alone. Similarly, of the more than 3,300 deaths listed across the country due to the lung disease Covid-19, more than 2,500 were complained of in Wuhan. However, it is assumed that by no means all cases have been counted in the official statistics.
