Wuhan, Apr 8: This megacity of central China started buzzing with activity on Wednesday, after the 76-day-old lockdown, imposed to control the spread of Novel Coronavirus pandemic.
At Fuhe toll gate in northern Wuhan, cars honked horns and rushed out after barricades were removed at midnight.
Guo Lei, who ran a business in Wuhan, drove his car with six others aboard to the toll gate at around 2040 hrs (local time) and waited for a home-bound trip. “I can’t wait to return to my hometown,” said Guo, a native of east China’s Shandong Province. “I have lived in Wuhan for eight years. During the Spring Festival holiday, my relatives came to the city and helped me deliver goods. We were all stranded here due to the epidemic,” Xinhua reported him as saying.
Big data from Wuhan traffic police forecasted the expressways would see a peak of outbound vehicles on Wednesday. As more work resumption picks up steam, Wuhan has seen a daily increase of nearly 400,000 vehicles on roads in the past half month, and the number is expected to reach 1.8 million after Wednesday, according to the city’s traffic police.
Traffic police will release real-time traffic information through radio stations, online social platforms, and map apps.
“I’m very happy to see the lockdown was lifted. The reopening of outbound traffic represents the epidemic situation has improved, and our hard work over the past two months has paid off,” said Fang Jing, a staff member at an expressway toll station in Wuhan.
“We still need to protect ourselves from the virus and remind passengers to pay attention to personal health since the epidemic is not yet over,” he added.
COVID-19: Wuhan ends lockdown, permits outbound travel
