After more than two weeks of being in isolation, the Chinese city of Wuhan, which was the ground zero for the global coronavirus pandemic, partly reopened on Saturday. Except for Wuhan, railways stations and airports began resuming operations across the Hubei province. Wuhan residents will still not be able to leave the city until April 8. People are, however, allowed to enter the city.
Being the epicentre of the virus, the city saw some of the harshest restrictions. Lockdown of the city, however, succeeded in stopping the fast-spreading virus and gave hospitals and healthcare workers much-needed breathing room to appropriately equip themselves to fight the virus.
The city had also a large number--50,000 people--infected by the virus.
Though banks have reopened and buses started operations, citizens are still being asked to avoid non-essential travel and those above the age of 65 have been asked to avoid using public transport. The subway network is expected to start on Saturday, while some shopping centres will reopen next week.
Wuhan initially struggled to contain the virus. Overwhelmed healthcare staff were not able to process the growing number of patients quickly enough.
Liu Dongru, of the Hubei Health Commission, said Friday that although Wuhan had been reclassified as a "low-risk" area, work to control the virus must continue.
Rest of the mainland in the meantime has reported three deaths and 54 new cases of COVID-19. Among the 54 cases, most of them were Chinese nationals returning home. China reported just one locally transmitted case on Friday.
