Chinese experts and local citizens have shown confidence in Wuhan's reopening since
Saturday due to strict prevention and control systems launched in the city after it was
put under lockdown in January.
Most of Wuhan's subway network resumed services on Saturday with one difference –
each train has a security guard who makes inspection tours, reminding people to wear
face masks, avoid gatherings and scan their codes when getting off the subway.
Since Saturday, 184 subway stations on six lines have come back to service with 200
newly installed infrared intelligent temperature monitors. Passengers are asked to scan
their health QR codes with real-name registration, check body temperatures before
entering the stations and sit with an empty seat between every two persons. There are
yellow lines on the floor reminding passengers to keep one meter away from each
other when queuing.
Reports show more than 183,000 passengers took the subway on Saturday, and more
than 60,000 people arrived at the three major railway stations in Wuhan from other
parts of the country the same day. Restrictions on people leaving the city will be lifted
on April 8.
Besides, the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport will also resume domestic flight
services from April 8. Hubei's other major airports reopened Sunday.
As the city is gradually restoring normal traffic, some observers voiced concerns over
future challenges the city faces to prevent COVID-19 from breaking out again given
the large-scale incoming personnel and possible carriers with no symptoms.
"I don't think there will be a major challenge in this regard as I always believed the
epidemic [in China] will end very soon," Yang Zhanqiu, a Wuhan-based virologist,
told the Global Times on Sunday, adding the current natural environment, including
climate and temperatures, will make it increasingly hard for the coronavirus to
survive.
He noted that patients with no symptoms are not the main spreaders of the novel
coronavirus.
Medical experts believe that Wuhan's stringent detecting system and local people's
high vigilance against the virus imply that a second large-scale outbreak will hardly
be possible.
The efficiency of the city's virus detection and relevant medical support is much
higher than before, said Zhou Zijun, a professor at the Peking University School of
Public Health, noting that the health QR codes, which every incoming passenger to
Wuhan has, can track and act as proof of people's health conditions.
Echoing that view, Yang pointed out "the code is like a traffic permit in almost every
public setting, especially on public transportation and in supermarkets."
Quite a few netizens from Wuhan have posted photos and videos of their food
deliveries, subway trips and scenery in their neighborhoods.
Some Wuhan residents, who were previously stranded elsewhere and took the first-
day trains back to the city, expressed on social media their excitement to go back
home and confidence in the epidemic situation there.
"Our bustling city is back, everything will be fine," one netizen wrote on Sina Weibo.
