China to lift lockdown in Wuhan on April 8 as coronavirus cases drop to zero

While the rest of the world is still rocked with the coronavirus outbreak, its epicentre, China’s Hubei province has now said that it will allow transportation to resume for the Wuhan city on April 8. Marking the lifting of the lockdowns that were imposed on the city in December 2019 after the fatal COVID-19 reportedly originated from China’s animal market. The virus outbreak has now claimed over 16,500 lives out of which more than 3,200 were reported only from the mainland. 

According to the statement on the provincial government’s website on March 24, Wuhan residents will now be allowed to leave the city and Hubei province after being confined mostly to their homes to contain the easily spread COVID-19. The easing of the restrictions has come as Hubei reported that the infections of the novel virus dropped to zero on March 19 which was also a dramatic plunge from the peak of the pandemic which has already infected more than 81,000 in the communist superpower. 

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Xi projected confidence on govt

According to international reports, Chinese President Xi Jinping has projected confidence in his government which has successfully stemmed from the spread of coronavirus. Xi had even visited the virus-hit Wuhan on March 10 for the first time since the disease had emerged a few months ago. Just recently, images had also emerged on various social media platforms showing the life in China returning to normalcy but the epidemic has rocked other parts of Asia, Europe and the United States. 

Last week, Italy even crossed the death toll reported in China and the authorities have not been able to flatten the curve of coronavirus spread. On January 23, China had placed a lockdown on Wuhan along with the surrounding regions to contain COVID-19 and effectively restricted 60 million people in Hubei province as infections had spun out of control. These measures had included the suspension of air and rail travel and were restricted to those who could leave by car. Moreover, even large gatherings were banned in the region. 

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(With agency inputs)