A year ago, a notice sent to smartphones in Wuhan at 2am announced the world’s first shutdown of the coronavirus, bringing the busy central Chinese industrial and transportation center to a virtual standstill overnight. It would take 76 days.
Early Saturday morning, residents of the city where the virus was first detected jog, tai chi and practice in a foggy park along the mighty Yangtze River.
Life has largely returned to normal in the city of 11 million, even though the rest of the world is struggling with the spread of the more contagious variants of the virus. Attempts to vaccinate people for COVID-19 have been frustrated by disorder and limited supplies in some places. The plague has killed more than 2 million people worldwide.
POMPEO URGENT WHO TESTS WUHAN LAB DISEASES, QUESTIONS THAT ARE TRANSPARENT
In Wuhan, there was little traffic, but there was no sign of the barriers that isolated neighborhoods a year ago, hindered movement in the city, and restricted people to their housing and even apartments.
Wuhan was responsible for most of China’s 4,635 deaths due to COVID-19, a number that remained largely static for months. The city has been largely free of further outbreaks since the closure was lifted on April 8, but there are still questions about where the virus originated and whether Wuhan and Chinese authorities acted quickly enough and with sufficient transparency to enable the world set to prepare for a pandemic has made more than 98 million sick.
Wuhan was praised for his sacrifice in the service of the nation, which turned it into a kind of Stalingrad in China’s war on the virus, commemorated in books, documentaries, TV shows and floride pantexts of officials, including head of state and leader of the Communist. Xi Jinping Party.
“We think Wuhan is a heroic city. After all, it stopped its economy from helping China deal with the pandemic. It is a noble act,” said Chen Jiali, 24, a resident.
WHO SCIENTISTS COME WHERE TO EXAMINE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC ORIGIN
China announced another 107 cases on Saturday, bringing the total to 88,911 since the start of the pandemic. Of these, the northern province of Heilongjiang represented the largest number at 56. Beijing and the eastern financial center of Shanghai have both reported three new cases amid mass tests and closures of hospitals and residential units linked to recent outbreaks.
Authorities are wary of the possibility of a new boom around the Moon New Year holiday next month, telling people not to travel and to avoid gatherings as much as possible. Schools are dropped out a week early and many have already switched to online classes. Mask wear remains virtually universal inside and on public transportation. Cell phone programs are used to track people’s movements and prove that they are both virus-free and have not been in areas where suspected cases have been found.
Since the end of the closure, Wuhan has been largely spared further outbreaks, something residents like chemistry teacher Yao Dongyu attribute to heightened awareness due to the traumatic experience of last year.
“At that time, people were very nervous, but the government gave us great support. It was a very powerful guarantee, so we went through it together,” said Yao, 24. “Since the Wuhan people experienced the pandemic, they have done better in personal precautions than people in other regions.”
China stubbornly defended its actions in the early days of the outbreak, saying it helped buy time for the rest of the world, while applying theories that the virus was brought to the city from outside China, possibly from a laboratory in the USA.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
After months of negotiations, China finally gave permission last week for the World Health Organization to send a team of international experts to investigate the origins of the virus. They are currently undergoing a two-week quarantine.
A panel of WHO-mandated experts criticized China and other countries this week for not wanting to stem the initial outbreak earlier, which Beijing had to admit could have done better.
Meanwhile, thousands of residents in Hong Kong in southern China were locked up on Saturday in an unprecedented move to contain a worse outbreak in the city.
Hong Kong has been struggling since November to contain a fresh wave of the coronavirus. More than 4,300 cases have been recorded in the past two months, accounting for nearly 40% of the city’s total.
Authorities said in a statement that an area with 16 buildings in the Yau Tsim Mong district would be closed until all residents were tested.