Chinese authorities have announced on Tuesday that the lockdown in central Hubei province, the epicentre of Covid-19, would be lifted from tomorrow.
But travel restrictions in the capital of the province, Wuhan, would be lifted only on April 8.
The Health Commission for China's Hubei province said on Tuesday that travel restrictions on inbound and outbound passengers will not be there from midnight of Wednesday. However, people leaving the province have been asked to produce 'green code' certifying that they do not suffer from disease. But schools in the province will remain closed.
The easing of restrictions comes as the province has not reported new cases from March 19. But Chinese leaders are concerned about a resurgence of the coronavirus within the country, as many of its citizens will be returning from overseas.
China imposed strict vigil in the province, which effectively restricted the movements of 60 million people.
Following this, many other cities have also introduced tight rules that isolate people. Beijing-bound international flights are being diverted to other urban centres, where passengers will be screened and isolated, if necessary.
Unprecedented restrictions in Hubei province may have averted hundreds of thousands of cases, according to the World Health Organisation. But the mortality rate among covid-19 patients has been comparatively higher than other regions.
The WHO’s top emergency expert said on Sunday that countries could not simply lockdown their societies to defeat the coronavirus. He said that there needs to be public health measures to avoid a resurgence of the virus afterwards.
“The danger right now with the lockdowns... if we don’t put in place strong public health measures now, when those movement restrictions and lockdowns are lifted, the danger is the disease will jump back up,” said Mike Ryan, chief executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme that has been tasked with the international containment and treatment of COVID-19.
The epidemic, which originated in Wuhan, infected more than 81,100 and killed over 3,277 Chinese people.
