WUHAN – As cars queued up at expressway toll gates and passengers prepared to board trains to leave Wuhan, the megacity started lifting outbound travel restrictions from today after almost 11 weeks of lockdown to stem the spread of COVID-19.
At Fuhe toll gate in Wuhan, cars honked horns and rushed out after barricades were removed at midnight.
Guo Lei, who runs a business in Wuhan, drove his car with six others aboard to the toll gate at around 8:40 p.m. and waited for a homebound trip.
“I can’t wait returning to my hometown,” said Guo, a native of Shandong province. “I have lived in Wuhan for eight years. During the Spring Festival holiday, my relatives came to the city and helped me deliver goods. We were all stranded here due to the epidemic.”
Big data from Wuhan traffic police forecast the expressways would see a peak of outbound vehicles today.
As more enterprises resume their operations, Wuhan has seen an increase of nearly 400,000 vehicles in transit in the past half month, and the number is expected to reach 1.8 million after today according to the city’s traffic police.
Traffic police will release real-time traffic information through radio stations, online social platforms, and map apps.
“I’m very happy to see the lockdown was lifted. The reopening of outbound traffic represents the epidemic situation has improved, and our hard work over the past two months has paid off,” said Fang Jing, a staff member of 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.
Wuhan Tianhe International Airport started resuming domestic passenger flights early today. The airport is expected to record more than 200 inbound and outbound flights today, according to the airport.
On January 23, Wuhan declared unprecedented traffic restrictions, including suspending the city’s public transport and all outbound flights and trains, in an attempt to contain the epidemic.
– Xinhua
A worker removes barriers near an expressway toll station in Wuhan early today. Wuhan started lifting outbound travel restrictions from today after almost 11 weeks of lockdown to stem the spread of COVID-19. – Xinhua
High-speed trains at a depot in Wuhan last night are ready to restart the city’s railway links today. – Xinhua
