(Xinhua / Xiao Yijiu)
WUHAN, April 8 (Xinhua) – As cars line up at highway tolls and passengers prepare to board trains to leave Wuhan, the megalopolis in central China has started to lift its travel restrictions Wednesday after some eleven weeks in containment to curb the spread of COVID-19.
At the Fuhe toll north of Wuhan, cars honked and rushed after the barriers were lifted at midnight.
Guo Lei, who ran a business in Wuhan, arrived at the toll booth with six other people in his car around 8:40 p.m. and was waiting to start his journey before returning home.
“I can’t wait to go back to my hometown,” said Guo, from Shandong Province. “I have been living in Wuhan for eight years. During the Spring Festival holidays, my relatives came to the city to help me deliver goods. We were all stranded here because of the epidemic.”
Wuhan road police have planned big departures on the highways for Wednesday via big data.
As more businesses resume operations, Wuhan has seen the number of vehicles in transit increase to almost 400,000 in the past 15 days, and the number is expected to reach 1.8 million after Wednesday, traffic police said. from the city.
Traffic police will publish traffic information in real time via radio, online social platforms and mapping applications.
“I am very happy to see the lockout lifted. The reopening of traffic from the city illustrates the improvement in the epidemiological situation and shows that the hard work of the past two months has paid off,” said Fang Jing, staff member of a Wuhan highway toll booth.
“We must continue to protect ourselves from the virus and remind passengers of the importance of taking care of their health, because the epidemic has not yet ended,” she added.
At Wuhan station, a total of 442 passengers took the K81 train to Guangzhou, capital of the southern province of Guangdong, at 12:50 am Wednesday.
More than 55,000 passengers are scheduled to depart Wuhan by train on Wednesday, and about 40% of them are destined for the Pearl River Delta region. A total of 276 passenger trains will leave Wuhan for Shanghai, Shenzhen and other cities.
Rail officials are asking passengers to scan health codes and temperature control when entering stations, as well as to wear masks to reduce the risk of infection.
Trains, entrances and exits, waiting rooms and station platforms have been disinfected in advance.
Wuhan Tianhe International Airport started to resume domestic scheduled flights on Wednesday. The airport is expected to handle more than 200 flights to and from the city during the day.
On January 23, Wuhan decreed unprecedented traffic restrictions, including the suspension of public transportation and all flights and trains from the city, as part of efforts to contain the epidemic.
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