BEIJING, March 25 — China’s Hubei, the epicentre of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, started returning to normal today as authorities lifted two months of counter-epidemic restrictions that locked down the province and its capital Wuhan.
Mainland China also reported a drop in new confirmed coronavirus cases as imported infections fell and no locally transmitted infections were reported.
Traffic controls were eased at midnight in Hubei, while the lockdown of Wuhan will be lifted on April 8, a milestone in China’s war against the epidemic as Beijing shifts its focus towards stemming imported cases and rebooting the economy.
The Hubei government today told workers who had been quarantined at home to go back to work as soon as possible.
People were also able to leave Hubei by train and bus, while the Wudang Mountains, a top scenic site, reopened for visitors, according to state media.
Hubei Party Secretary Ying Yong said yesterday that while the lifting of traffic restrictions means life is gradually getting back to normal, the government will continue to work hard to prevent a rebound in infections as population movements increase.
Screening
To prevent a surge in imported cases, China is ramping up quarantine and screening rules for all international arrivals.
The city of Quanzhou in Fujian province will cancel all international and regional flights, starting on March 26, after four imported cases from the Philippines were found yesterday.
The Quanzhou Jinjiang international airport will cancel 17 routes including those connecting Manila, Hong Kong, and Macau, the Fujian government said in a notice.
Beijing has already diverted flights to other cities where passengers will be screened and quarantined.
The number of new coronavirus cases in China totalled 47 yesterday, all of which were from travellers returning home, down from 78 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said.
New imported cases in Beijing, Guangdong and Fujian declined, though the daily tally of new imported infections rose to a record 19 cases in the financial hub of Shanghai.
New cases of infected international arrivals were also reported in the city of Tianjin, the Inner Mongolia region, and the provinces of Jiangsu, Sichuan, Jilin, Zhejiang, Shandong, and Shaanxi.
In Hubei, no new infections were reported despite three new deaths, including two in Wuhan, where the virus first appeared late last year. Today, local authorities downgraded Wuhan’s epidemic risk level from “high” to “medium”.
The Hubei Health Commission announced it would lift curbs on outgoing travellers starting March 25, provided they had a health clearance code.
The total number of confirmed cases in mainland China stands at 81,218, with 474 imported infections. The death toll in mainland China reached 3,281 as of the end of yesterday, up by four from the previous day. — Reuters
