Businesses start to reopen in Wuhan

Commercial facilities started to reopen in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak of the new coronavirus, after Chinese authorities said they will end a two-month lockdown of most of coronavirus-hit Hubei province.

Domestic cases of the virus continue to subside.

China's Central Television showed people waiting in line, with about 1.5 meters from each other, outside a supermarket in Wuhan which has just reopened to the public.

Shoppers have to show their health code on their mobile phones and have their temperatures taken before they can get in, CCTV reported.

This supermarket has a total operation area of 4,000 square meters and it allows up to 400 people shopping inside at the same time, CCTV reported.

China barred people from leaving or entering Wuhan on January 23 in a surprise middle-of-the-night announcement and expanded it to most of the province in succeeding days.

Supermarkets have since then been either closed or only open for bulk orders from communities for residents locked at home.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

The new coronavirus has caused a global pandemic that has sickened more than 425,000 people and killed over 18,000 worldwide, crippled economies and forced restrictions on the movement of millions of people in an effort to stop the virus from spreading further and overwhelming health care systems.