우한 봉쇄령 내일부터 해제
COVID-19's ground zero the city of Wuhan, China will be letting people leave the city starting tomorrow.
But there are still lots of precautions in place.
The authorities will be checking on people's health and continuing to disinfect the city.
Our Kim Do-yeon reports. After 76 days, the travel restrictions in Wuhan will be lifted at midnight on April 8th.
Anyone assigned a "green code," meaning they're healthy, is allowed to leave the city its transport connections to other parts of China having reopened.
It was late December when the Chinese health authorities first reported dozens of cases of a mysterious pneumonia in Wuhan, saying most of them were linked to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market.
As the number of cases skyrocketed, on January 23rd, the Hubei provincial authorities closed the borders of Wuhan and other nearby cities... and imposed a lockdown.
People were forced to stay home, and all non-essential businesses were closed.
On February 13th, the lockdown was extended for seven more days.
But when that was due to end, the government had to issue another extension.
As the number of cases was brought under control, on March 22nd, the authorities started to let people move within the region.
Finally, officials decided they would lift the travel restrictions on April 8th.
During this period, around 9 million people were stuck in Wuhan, but now they're going back to their daily lives.
Some residents, understandably, are still cautious.
"I think it's safe to lift the restrictions on April 8th. But no matter how long the restrictions last, you cannot distinguish healthy people from those who have an asymptomatic infection."
In the past two weeks, Wuhan has only had two new cases.
Over the course of the outbreak, Hubei Province has accounted for more than half of all the cases in China and some 2,500 deaths.
Kim Do-Yeon, Arirang News
