Coronavirus: Wuhan residents told to stay inside and be vigilant

Residents of Wuhan have been warned to stay indoors and strengthen protection measures, a few days before travel restrictions on the city at the centre of the pandemic are scheduled to be lifted. The city’s top official urged vigilance as authorities sought to ward off a second wave of infection from incoming travellers, while also easing some of its stringent containment measures.

China has reported more than 81,600 cases of the virus since the outbreak began, including 3,322 deaths, but the level of transparency around the figures has been questioned. Until this week China’s national health commission was not including people who tested positive but showed no symptoms in its tally. On Friday it reported 31 new confirmed cases, including two locally transmitted infections. Four people died, all of them in Wuhan.
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While the number of daily cases has dropped dramatically since February, Wang Zhonglin, Wuhan’s Communist party chief, said the risk of a rebound in the city’s epidemic remained high due to both internal and external risks and it must continue to maintain prevention and control measures.

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