Lingering Fears Slow Recovery although Wuhan Virus Lockdown Over

By Staff, Agencies

Wuhan is waking from its coronavirus nightmare, loosening tight restrictions on movement and business as the global pandemic's launch pad tries to move on.

But full recovery remains hampered by fear of a potential new wave of infections.

Many businesses and all schools are still closed, restaurants aren't allowed dine-in customers, and some neighborhoods remain sealed off behind barriers.

Residents need to show they have a "healthy" rating on a mandatory phone app to leave their homes, use public transport, or enter most public spaces.

While many other Chinese cities are getting back to near-normal, Wuhan's government has made clear that easing controls poses new perils and that a return to usual life will have to wait. 

In some areas, it's been two steps forward, one step back.

Wuhan authorities said 70 residential neighborhoods -- out of nearly 7,000 recently declared "epidemic-free" -- lost that status this week, prolonging lockdown measures there.

The government has suggested the status revocation was due to the discovery of asymptomatic cases.

China initially withheld numbers of asymptomatic cases -- people who test positive but show no symptoms of COVID-19, the pneumonia-like illness caused by the virus.

It said on Thursday that the country now has over a thousand such patients under medical observation -- with 674 of those in Hubei, where Wuhan is the provincial capital.

Chinese officials have said the virus emerged from wildlife sold for food at a local wet market.

Many Wuhan residents expressed to AFP journalists a continued fear about resuming normal activities.

Daily new infections in Wuhan are now down to zero on most days, but suspicions linger over the data publicized by the secretive ruling Communist Party that stands accused of a slow response to the outbreak, cover-up attempts, and moves to silence domestic critics.

Many residents are still unable to leave their homes due to the mobile phone health code system which tracks if where they live or have visited remain high-risk.

This hinders movement back to prosperous coastal regions where many Wuhan citizens work, a major income source for their families.

The welcome in those industrial zones is fraying.

Wuhan travelers face mandatory 14-day quarantines upon returning to some areas, and web-users in places such as Shanghai have expressed fear and outrage at the prospect of people returning from Wuhan.