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April 9, 2020

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Thousands head out of Wuhan as 76-day travel ban removed

VOICING joy and excitement from behind face masks, tens of thousands of people left Wuhan yesterday after a 76-day travel ban was lifted on the city hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak in China.

On January 23, Wuhan declared unprecedented traffic restrictions, including suspending the city’s public transport, flights and trains, in an attempt to contain the epidemic.

Wuhan turned the tide against the aggressive virus, which has infected over 50,000 people and killed 2,572 in the city, accounting for about 80 percent of the national total fatalities.

Previously quiet train and bus stations bustled yesterday as an exodus began from the city of 11 million. In front of the Fuhe toll gate, workers shouted countdowns as they pulled aside barricades at midnight and drivers, lining up more than 1km, honked their horns in unison as they rushed through.

Guo Lei, who ran a business in Wuhan, drove his car with six others to the toll gate at around 8:40pm on Tuesday and waited for a homebound trip.

“I can’t wait to return to my hometown,” said Guo, a native of east China’s Shandong Province who has lived in Wuhan for eight years. During the Spring Festival holiday, his relatives came to the city to help deliver goods and were all stranded there due to the epidemic.

“Of course it was difficult, with such a big family trapped here. The local government helped solved some of our problems and luckily all of us made it through,” he said. “I trust Wuhan will become a better place after getting through this trying time.”

Big data from Wuhan traffic police forecast the expressways would see a peak of outbound vehicles yesterday.

“I’m very happy to see the lockdown was lifted. The reopening of outbound traffic means that 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,” Fang added.

At Wuchang Railway Station, 442 passengers jumped on the train K81, which departed shortly after midnight for Guangzhou, capital of south China’s Guangdong Province.

More than 55,000 passengers left Wuhan by train yesterday, with about 40 percent of them heading to the Pearl River Delta region, a manufacturing heartland in southern China. A total of 276 passenger trains departed for Shanghai, Shenzhen and other cities.

Passengers must present health codes and have their temperatures checked while entering the stations and wear masks to reduce the risks of infection. Workers disinfected trains, the entrances and exits, waiting halls and platforms of the railway stations in advance.

“We have carried out daily maintenance and disinfection of bullet trains in the past two months to prepare for the day when we resume operation,” said an employee of China Railway Wuhan Bureau Group Co.

The company manages a bullet train “parking lot,” where more than 100 electric multiple units have been parked since the city was sealed off. Before the lockdown, the site in the busy transportation hub sheltered only one or two bullet trains in the daytime, according to the employee.

At 5:53am, the high-speed train G431 sounded its horn and pulled out of the parking lot toward the Wuhan Railway Station. It later departed from the station at 7:06am to become the first high-speed train to leave Wuhan after the lockdown was lifted.

An hour before the train’s departure, the station held a ceremony to tear off a seal from one entrance gate and present bouquets to three passengers. Goggle-wearing stewards conducted disinfection inside the G431 train before 337 passengers streamed into the coaches wearing a motley of protective gear from transparent head shields to colorful disposable raincoats.

“It (boarding a train) is much simpler than I expected: Except presenting my health codes and having my temperature checked, it is the same as boarding a train before the outbreak,” said Guan Tao, a Wuhan businessman and passenger of the G431 train. “After being confined to my residential community for over two months, it feels so good to go on a trip,” said Guan, who was heading to Changsha on a business trip.

Wuhan Tianhe International Airport resumed domestic passenger flights too. More than 200 inbound and outbound flights were planned for the day.

“The crew will wear goggles, masks and gloves throughout the flight,” said Guo Binxue, chief attendant of the flight MU2527, the first flight that left Wuhan at 7:22am. “It will be very smooth because we have made much preparation for this flight.”




 

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