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WUHAN: Hundreds of shoppers fill a wet market on a weekday morning in December in the Chinese city of Wuhan, jostling to buy fresh vegetables and live fish, frogs and turtles.
Nearly a year since the city reported the world’s first COVID-19 cases in one of its few vast wet markets, and even as several other countries remain firmly in the grip of the ensuing pandemic, life in Wuhan has returned on largely to normal.
“I am not afraid, what is there to be afraid of?” said Nie Guangzhen, a fish and vegetable vendor.
Nie and other shop owners along a narrow street, part of the larger wet market, were busy gutting fish for a large number of shoppers, some without masks, while city cleaners sprayed the sidewalks.
Little evidence remains of Wuhan’s initial role in the coronavirus pandemic, which has since infected more than 67 million people worldwide, killing around 1.5 million people.
China first alerted the World Health Organization to 27 cases of “viral pneumonia” in Wuhan on December 31. Authorities closed a wet market in the city the next day, after discovering that some patients were vendors or traders.
That marked the beginning of a dark period for the city of 11 million in central China. Infections quickly rose to 50,000 cases, including nearly 4,000 deaths.
READ: China reports 12 new cases of COVID-19
Officials responded by swiftly imposing a harsh 76-day blockade, erecting miles of thick yellow barricades across the city’s deserted streets to keep people home and businesses closed.
The measures paid off. Wuhan has not registered a new locally transmitted case in several months and is now indistinguishable from other Chinese cities with crowded shopping streets, traffic jams and crowded restaurants.
“I really missed these funniest and most exciting moments, like shopping and eating with my friends,” Hu Hang, a 27-year-old shopper, said Monday at a packed Wuhan night market selling Christmas sweaters, among other goods.
On the busy street, street vendors sell flowers and balloons, street performers, including dancers and a clown, perform as music plays in the shops that line the street.
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The city’s recovery is in stark contrast to other major economies heading into the Christmas and New Years season.
In the United States, the healthcare system is under heavy pressure as cases rise and health officials warn that the worst is yet to come. The country recorded 15,000 deaths in the past week, the deadliest seven days of the pandemic since April.
Several European countries have implemented strict restrictions on meetings before Christmas, fearing a return to peak levels of cases due to holiday celebrations.
China’s relative success in controlling the virus has become a key talking point in Chinese state media.
“I have not been abroad, so I do not understand it well, but looking at television it seems that foreign countries do not prioritize human life,” said Li, a 54-year-old street food vendor from Wuhan. who reopened his store in June. “The ideology of foreign countries is not as good as China’s.”
INCREASED SURVEILLANCE
China has taken steps, including massive testing of millions of residents after small-scale outbreaks, to prevent a second wave of infections in many other cities and countries.
At the gates of residential complexes, staff in blue tents monitor the health codes on residents’ smartphones. In a public park, slogans on red propaganda banners urge people to remain vigilant.
READ: Shanghai marathon defies COVID-19 with 9,000 runners
Wearing masks is not mandatory, but most people do it in public.
And while shoppers have returned to the streets of Wuhan, Li and others say that business has not yet fully returned to normal.
“The whole situation is not very good, it is still much worse compared to the last few years,” Li said, referring to a drop in sales during the time after the closing, when people were too afraid to return to the streets.
Still, for many residents, memories of the lockdown have been replaced by the city’s swift reopening, along with new precautions.
“I’m not worried, because I’m doing a good job of protecting,” said wet market vendor Nie, who said she will continue to disinfect and boil her clothes. “Even if there is a second wave, I will just keep it up.”
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