China's virus epicentre gradually revives

A woman wearing a face mask shops at a supermarket in Wuhan, on Monday. Pic/AFP

Shopkeepers in the city at the centre of the virus outbreak in China were reopening on Monday but customers were scarce after authorities lifted more of the anti-virus controls that kept tens of millions of people at home for two months.

Some 70 per cent to 80 per cent of shops were open on Monday but many imposed limits on how many people could enter. Shopkeepers set up dispensers for hand sanitizer and checked customers for signs of fever.

Wuhan's bus and subway service resumed, easing curbs that cut most access to the city of 11 million people on January 23 as China fought the Coronavirus. The train station reopened on Saturday, bringing thousands of people to what is the manufacturing and transportation hub of central China.

Travel controls on most of Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, were lifted on March 23. The final restrictions preventing people from leaving Wuhan are due to end April 8.

Automakers and other manufacturers in Wuhan have reopened but say they need to restore the flow of components before production returns to normal levels. Some are waiting for employees who went to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year holiday and were stranded when the plane, train and bus services were all but cut off to Hubei province. Some parents were on the street with their children but the traffic was light.

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