China’s Wuhan, source of coronavirus, lifts final restrictions

Wuhan, the Chinese metropolis at the origin of the current coronavirus pandemic, is due this week to lift the final restrictions after more than two and a half months of stringent lockdown.

From midnight on Wednesday, (1600 GMT on Tuesday) traffic is set to return to normal.

Flights are also due to resume, cars will be able to leave the city again and people can travel by train, on condition that they are healthy and have had no recent contact with infected patients.

The resumption of normal life in the city of 11 million people is seen as an important signal for China that the worst of the crisis is over.

The novel strain of coronavirus jumped from an unknown animal species to the human population in Wuhan in December.


Of the more than 80,000 officially registered cases in China, 50,000 were in Wuhan alone.

The metropolis accounts for more than 2,500 of the country’s 3,300 listed Covid-19 deaths.

Observers believe that many cases have not been included in those numbers, however.