The central Chinese city of Wuhan, the first epicentre of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, is set to end its lockdown on April 8, more than 75 days after it was sealed off from the outside world as well as internally to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The Hubei province, the worst-hit in China, will lift travel curbs from Wednesday, the authorities announced on Tuesday.
The lockdown of Wuhan and then the rest of Hubei had effectively restricted the movements of nearly 60 million people, an unprecedented step, which experts said helped in controlling the spread of the infection.
People in Wuhan will be allowed to leave the city and Hubei province, according to a statement on the provincial government’s website Tuesday.
Wuhan, a city of 11 million and a transport and education hub, was put under a lockdown on January 23 in order to stem the spread of Covid-19, the disease caused by the new virus.
The disease until Monday might had infected more than 81100 people and killed nearly 3,300 in mainland China, the national health commission (NHC).
The disease to lift the lockdown comes in the backdrop of dwindling new infections in China for more than two weeks now.
On March 10, President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan for the first time since the disease emerged, signalling a turning point in China’s fight against the outbreak.
Experts in China, however, have warned about a second wave of infections.
As Hubei’s and Wuhan’s numbers dwindled to single digits, China has begun to fight a new battle front in terms imported or overseas, which have continued to increase for several days now.
