Wuhan returns to normal and the world faces pandemic

A year ago, a notice sent to cellphones in Wuhan at 2 a.m. announced the world’s first coronavirus lockdown, which brought China’s bustling industrial and transportation hub to a standstill almost overnight. It would last 76 days.

On Saturday morning, however, residents of the city where the virus was first detected were running and practicing tai chi in a fog-covered park on the banks of the Yangtze River.

Life has largely returned to normal in the city of 11 million people, even as the rest of the world struggles to stem the spread of more contagious variants of the virus. In some places, vaccination campaigns against Covid-19 have been thwarted by chaos and limited supplies. The pandemic has claimed the lives of more than two million people around the world.

Traffic was fluid in Wuhan, where there was no sign of the barriers that a year ago isolated neighborhoods, prevented movement around the city and confined residents to their residential complexes and even their homes.

Wuhan recorded the majority of the 4,635 officially recorded Covid-19 deaths in China, a figure that has remained unchanged for months. The city has not suffered from an epidemic since the quarantine ended on April 8, but questions remain about the origin of the virus and whether Chinese and Wuhan authorities have acted quickly enough and with sufficient transparency. to enable the world to prepare for a virus that at least 98 million people have contracted.

Wuhan has been praised for his sacrifice in the service of the nation, becoming a sort of Stalingrad in China’s war on the virus, commemorated in books, documentaries, TV shows, and in flowery praise by officials, including including the president and leader of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping.

“We think Wuhan is a heroic city. After all, it crippled its economy to help China cope with the pandemic. It is a noble act, ”said Chen Jiali, a 24-year-old resident who works for an e-commerce company.

China announced 107 new infections on Saturday, bringing its total since the start of the pandemic to 88,911. Of these, 56 were recorded in the country’s northern Heilongjiang province. The capital Beijing and Shanghai, the financial hub in the east, have confirmed three new infections each amid massive testing campaigns and quarantines in hospitals and residential areas linked to recent outbreaks.

Authorities are on the lookout for a possible rebound in cases around the Lunar New Year holiday next month and are asking people to avoid travel and crowds as much as possible. Schools will close a week earlier than expected and many have already opted for online classes. The use of masks is still compulsory indoors and on public transport. Cellular apps are used to track people’s movements and show that they are not infected with the virus and that they were not in areas where epidemics were present.