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To: longnshort who wrote (1214119)	3/28/2020 4:47:35 PM
From: sylvester80	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575914

BREAKING: Wuhan reopens after two-month lockdown bangkokpost.com First inbound passenger train arrives, subway service resumes PUBLISHED : 28 MAR 2020 AT 14:06 WRITER: AFP People wearing face masks wait for a subway train on Saturday, the first day of service after a two-month closure in Wuhan. (Reuters Photo) WUHAN: Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the coronavirus first emerged last year, partly reopened on Saturday after more than two months of near total isolation for its population of 11 million. The city in Hubei province was placed under lockdown in January with roadblocks ring-fencing its outskirts and drastic restrictions on daily life But the major transport and industrial hub has now signalled the end of its long isolation, with state media showing the first officially sanctioned passenger train arriving back into the city just after midnight. People are now allowed to enter but not leave, and many trains had been fully booked days in advance. AFP reporters saw crowds of passengers arriving at Wuhan station on Saturday, most wheeling suitcases alongside them. China virus epicentre eases travel restrictions after lockdown Europe virus toll surges, peak still far off Travel amid Covid-19: As the doors close, one by one Some had managed to slip back into the city a day earlier on rail services that were stopping in Wuhan — but nominally banned passengers from disembarking — as enforcement of the travel ban began to ease. One woman who arrived on Friday said she and her daughter had been away from her husband for nearly 10 weeks. “As the train neared Wuhan, my child and I were both very excited,” the 36-year-old told AFP on Saturday. “It felt like the train was moving faster than before, and my daughter said the driver must know we really want to go home. “She rushed toward her father, and watching them from behind I couldn’t help but cry,” she added. Staff at the Wuhan station were all clad in full protective gear with reception desks lined up ready to process returnees who had been overseas. China is now battling to control a wave of imported cases as infections soar abroad. As passengers lined up to exit the station Saturday — some wearing two face masks, gloves, face screens or full protective suits — a worker in a hazmat suit shouted for anyone returning from overseas to come forward. All arrivals in Wuhan have to show a green code on a mobile app to prove that they are healthy. Elsewhere in China, long lines of travellers queued at train stations to board high-speed services back to Wuhan. Passengers in Shanghai had their temperatures checked by staff in goggles and masks after boarding their Saturday morning service. Restrictions on residents heading out of Wuhan will not be lifted until April 8, when the airport will also reopen for domestic flights. Wuhan is the last area of Hubei province to see overland travel restrictions lifted, although some highways leading into the city had already reopened this week. Gao Xuesong, a worker in Wuhan’s auto industry, arrived in the city Friday night. “It almost feels like returning to an alien land, because I haven’t been back for more than two months,” he told AFP. Wuhan has paid a heavy price for the outbreak, with more than 50,000 people infected and more Covid-19 deaths than any other city in China. But numbers have fallen dramatically in recent weeks. Official figures show there have been fewer than 20 new cases across the province in the past two weeks. Most of Wuhan’s subway network restarted on Saturday, while some shopping centres will open their doors next week. Banks reopened earlier this week and bus services resumed but residents have been warned against unnecessary travel and those over 65 have been told to avoid public transport. A study this week found the lockdown in Wuhan succeeded in stopping the fast-spreading virus in its tracks and gave health care facilities crucial breathing room — but warned against opening up the city too soon. More than 2,500 people are still in hospital with the disease in Wuhan, including nearly 900 “severe” cases. Liu Dongru, of the Hubei Health Commission, said that although parts of Wuhan had been reclassified as “low-risk” areas, work to control the virus needed to continue. “Zero reported cases does not equal zero risk,” he said.

To: longnshort who wrote (1214119)	3/28/2020 4:49:04 PM
From: sylvester80	Respond to of 1575914

BREAKING: China's Wuhan, where the coronavirus emerged, begins to lift its lockdown MARCH 28, 2020 / 2:25 AM / UPDATED 6 HOURS AGO Brenda Goh 4 MIN READ WUHAN, China (Reuters) - The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus outbreak first emerged, began lifting a two-month lockdown on Saturday by restarting some metro services and reopening borders, allowing some semblance of normality to return and families to reunite. After being cut-off from the rest of the country for two months, the reopening of Wuhan, where the epidemic first erupted in late December, marks a turning point in China’s fight against the virus, though the contagion has since spread to over 200 countries. Among those on the first high-speed trains allowed into the city on Saturday morning was Guo Liangkai, a 19-year-old student whose one-month work stint in Shanghai stretched to three months due to the clamp down on movement. “It makes me very happy that I can see my family,” Guo told Reuters after being greeted by his mother at the main station. “We wanted to hug but now is a special period so we can’t hug or take any actions like these.” Authorities took draconian measures to stop people from entering or leaving the industrial city of 11 million people in central China. Families were confined to their homes. Bus and taxi services were shut, and only essential stores were allowed to remain open. “I think the resumption of work represents a kind of hope. It at least shows that China is victorious,” said Zhang Yulun, 35, returning to Wuhan for work. China’s National Health Commission said on Saturday that 54 new coronavirus cases were reported on the mainland on Friday, all involving so-called imported cases. Mainland China now has 81,394 cases, with the death toll rising by three to 3,295, the commission said. People wearing face masks wait for a subway train on the first day the city's subway services resumed following the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Wuhan of Hubei province, the epicentre of China's coronavirus outbreak, March 28, 2020. The Chinese characters REUTERS/Aly Song Wuhan accounts for about 60% of China’s coronavirus cases, but they have fallen sharply in recent weeks, a sign that the measures are working. The last confirmed locally transmitted case of the virus in Wuhan was on Monday. With the United States, Italy and Spain and other countries now battling soaring infections, China is focusing on the risk posed by imported cases - most of them Chinese returning home. Effective Saturday, China suspended the entry of foreign nationals with valid Chinese visas and residence permits. DISINFECTANT AND MASKSBut even with the decline in cases and loosening of restrictions, Wuhan authorities were taking few chances. Staff, some in full-body protective gear, and volunteers bustled around the railway station in the morning, setting out hand disinfectant and putting up signs reminding travelers they need a mobile-phone based health code to take public transport. A worker walked through one metro train carrying a signboard reading: “Wear a mask for the entire journey, people should not gather and when you disembark please scan the health code.” “Everyone is taking the right precautions. So, there shouldn’t be a problem,” Yuan Hai, 30, a passenger on a reopened metro line said when asked about the risks. “But you have to be careful.” The existence of an unknown number of asymptomatic carriers of coronavirus in China has raised concerns among the public that lifting the restrictions may release thousands of people who could still be spreading the virus that causes COVID-19, without knowing they are sick. Life in Wuhan remains far from normal. The vast majority of shops are shut while bright yellow roadblocks remain. Wuhan will not let people leave the city until April 8. Slideshow (2 Images) Some people at the railway station, such as a woman who only gave her surname as Zhang, said they were there to see if there was any chance people could leave earlier. Her grandson came to visit her for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday in January and has been separated from his parents in the southern city of Shenzhen ever since. With schools there possibly reopening, she hopes he can get back soon. “He was supposed to leave on the fifth day (of the holiday) but has now been here for a few months,” she said.