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WUHAN: A year ago, an advisory sent to smartphones in Wuhan at 2 a.m. announced the world’s first coronavirus lockdown, bringing China’s bustling industrial and transportation hub to a virtual standoff almost overnight to the morning. It would last 76 days.
However, in the early morning of Saturday (January 23), residents of the city where the virus was first detected were jogging and practicing tai chi in a fog-covered park along the mighty Yangtze River.
Life has largely returned to normal in the city of 11 million people, even as the rest of the world grapples with the spread of the most contagious variants of the virus. Efforts to vaccinate people against COVID-19 have been thwarted by disorder and limited supplies in some places. The scourge has killed more than 2 million people worldwide.
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Traffic was light in Wuhan, but there were no signs of the barriers that a year ago isolated neighborhoods, impeded movement through the city and confined people to their housing complexes and even apartments.
Residents wear masks as they dance at a park in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, on Jan. 23, 2021 (Photo: AP / Ng Han Guan).
Wuhan accounted for the bulk of China’s 4,635 deaths from COVID-19, a number that has been static for months.
The city has been largely free of further outbreaks since the lockdown was lifted on April 8, but questions remain about where the virus originated and whether Wuhan and the Chinese authorities acted quickly enough and with enough transparency to allow it to the world braces for a pandemic that has sickened more than 98 million.
Wuhan has been praised for its sacrifice in the service of the nation, making it a kind of Stalingrad in China’s war on the virus, commemorated in books, documentaries, television shows and eulogies by officials, including the head of state and leader of the Communist Party. Xi Jinping.
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“We believe that Wuhan is a heroic city. After all, it stopped its economy to help China deal with the pandemic. This is a noble act,” said resident Chen Jiali, 24, who works at a purchasing company. by Internet.
Residents attend an exhibition on the city’s fight against coronavirus in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, on January 23, 2021 (Photo: AP / Ng Han Guan).
Residents line up at a popular restaurant in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, on Jan.23, 2021 (Photo: AP / Ng Han Guan).
China announced another 107 cases on Saturday, bringing its total since the start of the pandemic to 88,911. Of those, the northern province of Heilongjiang accounted for the largest number at 56. Beijing and the eastern financial center of Shanghai reported three new cases amid massive tests and hospital and home closures linked to recent outbreaks.
Authorities are wary of the possibility of a further increase around the Lunar New Year holiday next month and are telling people not to travel and to avoid gatherings as much as possible.
Schools leave a week early and many have already switched to online classes. The use of masks remains practically universal indoors and on public transport. Mobile phone applications are used to track people’s movements and demonstrate that they are virus-free and that they have not been in areas where suspected cases have been found.
READ: Pride and Caution in Wuhan on the Anniversary of the COVID-19 Shutdown
Since the end of the lockdown, Wuhan has largely been spared more outbreaks, something residents, such as chemistry professor Yao Dongyu, attribute to increased awareness as a result of last year’s traumatic experience.
“At that time, people were very nervous, but the government gave us great support. It was a very powerful guarantee, so we got through it together,” said Yao, 24. “Since the people of Wuhan went through the pandemic, they have done better in personal precautions than people in other regions.”
Chinese women in traditional costumes and masks visit a popular shopping street in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, on January 23, 2021 (Photo: AP / Ng Han Guan).
Residents attend an exhibition on the city’s fight against coronavirus in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, on January 23, 2021 (Photo: AP / Ng Han Guan).
China has stubbornly defended its actions in the early days of the outbreak, saying it helped buy time for the rest of the world while pushing fringe theories that the virus was brought to the city from outside China, possibly from a laboratory in the United States. .
After months of negotiations, China finally gave the World Health Organization permission last week to send a team of international experts to begin investigating the origins of the virus. They are currently in quarantine for two weeks.
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An expert panel commissioned by the WHO criticized China and other countries this week for failing to act sooner to stop the initial outbreak, prompting Beijing to admit it could have done better.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, southern China, thousands of residents were locked up on Saturday in an unprecedented move to contain a worsening outbreak in the city.
Hong Kong has been struggling to contain a new wave of the coronavirus since November. More than 4,300 cases have been recorded in the last two months, representing almost 40 percent of the city’s total.
Authorities said in a statement that an area comprising 16 buildings in the working-class Yau Tsim Mong district will be blocked until all residents have been screened.
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