the coronavirus crisis
China is set to lift its lockdown on Wuhan in 2 weeks
China will soon lift its lockdown on Wuhan, where the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic began, and public transportation in the city is set to resume.
The strict Wuhan lockdown that was imposed in January will be lifted on April 8, CNN reports. At that point, people who are healthy and have been given a green QR code on their phones indicating as much will be allowed to travel out of or into the city. "Residents apart from those returning to work are still not allowed to leave their residential compounds" in Wuhan at the moment, CNN notes.
Travel restrictions throughout the Hubei province outside of its capital of Wuhan are set to be lifted for people with the green QR codes beginning this week as well, authorities announced.
This change comes as The Associated Press writes "officials have now largely turned their attention to the threat of the virus returning from abroad" amid a drop in new COVID-19 coronavirus cases being reported in Hubei. "Even as Hubei's numbers have dwindled to single digits, China is facing another concern as imported cases continue to add to the country’s tally of infections," Bloomberg reports.
The New York Times notes, though, that China's officials only count patients with symptoms in its tally, which "raises questions about how many people with the virus are circulating freely."