- Wuhan 2020 is unrecognizable compared to the apocalyptic landscape.
- Many people say they are happy that life is getting back to normal.
- China reported at least 13,000 deaths in just one week on Saturday.
Wuhan: Residents of China’s Wuhan said on Monday that they are hopeful for the future and are no longer afraid. COVID-19three years after the city was put on lockdown due to a then-mysterious virus.
Since Beijing ordered Wuhan to be sealed off in January 2020 in an attempt to suffocate the outbreak, Covid has ravaged the planet, killing millions and sending the global economy into crisis.
But life is now back to normal for many around the world and after nearly three years of strict lockdowns and mandatory mass testing, Beijing lifted its strict zero-COVID policy last month.
As China celebrated the Lunar New Year this week, Wuhan was unrecognizable compared to the apocalyptic scenes that gripped the city of 11 million in early 2020.
Locals braved freezing temperatures to pack busy markets and families – some not wearing masks – bought toys and threw rocks along the banks of the Yangtze River.
Many told AFP He was happy that life was returning to normal.
“The New Year will definitely be better,” said Yan Dongju, a cleaner in his sixties AFP.
“We are no longer afraid of the virus.”
“Now that we’re open, everyone is quite happy,” said delivery driver Liang Feicheng, wearing goggles and a black face mask to keep warm.
“Many of our anxieties and depressions have gradually resolved,” he added.
“People are living their lives, getting together with family and friends, going out to play and traveling and being happy.”
‘House of Hope’
The January 2020 decision to lock down the city, announced at midnight, caught Wuhan residents by surprise as the world watched in uncertainty.
For 76 days, Wuhan was cut off from the world, with hospitals overflowing with patients and residents confined to their homes for fear of being infected.
But the horrific scenes that marked the world’s first COVID lockdown are now a thing of the past.
Outside a shop where AFP A sign for a new school on the second floor reads “House of Hope,” depicting the scene of a man dying in the street in January 2020 — in an image that would become a symbol of the world’s fight against COVID. Is.
But as a reminder of the fraught geopolitics that will emerge as the virus spreads around the world, Wuhan’s Huanan seafood wholesale market — once suspected The center of the outbreak – remains closed.
The area around the once bustling wet market was once deserted. AFP Visited on Monday, although a police car kept watch.
Over a billion affected
China, which has been relatively unscathed for years after its initial outbreak, has experienced its biggest-ever case surge in recent weeks thanks to strict zero-COVID measures.
is about 80% of the population According to Wu Zunyou, a leading epidemiologist, there are believed to have been contracts of COVID since health restrictions were lifted in December.
On Saturday, China reported at least 13,000 COVID-related deaths in just one week.
The figures, which only include deaths reported in hospitals, add nearly 60,000 more deaths since December than previously reported by authorities.
But that’s likely a huge underestimate for a population of 1.4 billion, and Beijing’s official case numbers are no longer believed to reflect reality.