Chinese authorities are reopening travel to and from Hubei province, the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak, ending two months of lockdowns that were introduced to help slow the disease’s spread. Only one new infection has been reported in Hubei since 18 March.
From 25 March, flights and trains in and out of all cities in Hubei province — except for the capital, Wuhan — will resume, and roads will reopen, according to an announcement posted on Hubei province’s website. Access to Wuhan, where the first cases were reported and spread, will remain restricted until 8 April. Until then, all those entering or leaving the city will have to take a test to prove that they are not infected with SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The Hubei announcement says that factories and businesses can gradually reopen, as long as they follow transmission prevention measures. Universities, schools and child-care centres will remain closed pending “a scientific assessment of the epidemic control situation”. (Schools in most other regions of China also remain closed.)
Other cities in China are slowly returning to some sense of normality. But scientists are warning that there is a risk of renewed COVID-19 transmission once people start mixing again.
Full text: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00154-w
