- Title: Six months on, Wuhan residents hope worst of virus pandemic is over
- Date: 30th June 2020
- Summary: VARIOUS OF PEOPLE DANCING ON RIVER BANK (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 80-YEAR-OLD WUHAN RESIDENT, LIU SULAN, SAYING: "Wuhan is basically safe. We wear masks when there are many people. We can take them off when there are less people. After half a year, Wuhan people are back to normal life and happy, finally. Thanks to the Party, thanks to the government and thanks to President Xi." GIRL WITH MASK GIRL WITH MOTHER AT THE RIVER BANK BOATS ON YANGTZE RIVER PEOPLE AT THE RIVER BANK MAN WALKING WITH MASKS ON HAND (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 32-YEAR-OLD WUHAN RESIDENT, LI CHAO, SAYING: "As I said, when it broke out half a year ago, people were scared of it. I felt stressful as it threatened my family. It was very serious. After the joint efforts by the government and people, the epidemic has eased and Wuhan has good control (over it). Life and work are getting back to normal slowly." ENTRANCE TO WET MARKET BARRIERS VEGETABLES VEGETABLE BOOTH OWNER WOMAN SCANNING TO PAY VEGETABLE BOOTH (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 45-YEAR-OLD WUHAN RESIDENT AND VEGETABLE BOOTH OWNER, YANG LIWEN, SAYING: "That's for sure (it was a difficult time for Wuhan residents). No matter if you do business or come out to work, it would be nice to have a job this year. We are not talking about making money. It would be nice to be able to have a life, now. What we sell here is necessary for daily life. Compared with others, we are probably better off." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AT WET MARKET PORK BOOTH OWNER PORK BOOTH PORK BOOTH OWNER PACKING FOR CUSTOMER (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) A 20-YEAR-OLD WUHAN RESIDENT, LIU YING, SAYING: "Compared to foreign countries, China took it seriously and was responsibile for its people. I am not criticizing foreign countries. Compared to other countries, China has been the best in controlling the virus. Several millions of people are infected abroad even now." (MUTE) VARIOUS OF TIMELAPSE VIDEO OF TRAFFIC
- Embargoed: 14th July 2020 09:43
- Keywords: COVID-19 China Wuhan coronavirus outbreak six month anniversary
- Location: WUHAN, CHINA
- City: WUHAN, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA003CKK8BIF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Life is returning back to normal in Wuhan with people flocking back to offices and wet markets to resume their daily lives in the hope that the worst of coronavirus outbreak has passed.
Tuesday (June 30) marks six months since China first reported cases of 'viral pneumonia' in Wuhan to World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31, 2019.
In Wuhan, the epicentre of China's coronavirus outbreak, traffic appeared to be gradually resuming on the streets and some people were seen walking about without masks.
"As time goes on, it's recovering slowly and it's basically gone for now. We have nothing to worry about when we come outside now. We will take off masks when we go to some places with low risk. Though we are told there is no need to wear masks in Wuhan, people still wear masks. People are getting used to it which is good. I still feel sad when talking about it." said a Wuhan resident, Pan Yuan.
China sealed off the city of 11 million people on January 23 to contain the coronavirus and the city's lockdown was lifted on April 8 to allow people to leave for the first time after 76 days. Wuhan conducted a city-wide nucleic acid testing for all of its 11 million residents over a period of 10 days amid fears of a resurge. But the situation has since stabilized.
Businesses, however, have yet to recover.
"No matter you do business or come out to work, it would be nice to have a job this year. We are not talking about making money," said a vegetable booth owner, Yang Liwen.
China reported 19 new confirmed coronavirus cases for June 29, up from 12 a day earlier, the country's health authority said on Monday (June 29). The total number of confirmed cases stood at 83,531 as of June 29, while the death toll stands at 4,634.
More than 10.3 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 504,269 have died.
(Production: Xihao Jiang) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
