Coronavirus ground-zero Wuhan to begin emerging from lockdown
The city of Wuhan will lift outbound travel curbs today after two months of lockdown.
After seemingly overcoming the epidemic and lifting restrictions on businesses, China is now reporting an increasing number of asymptomatic cases and transmissions from citizens and foreigners entering the country from abroad.
After initially mismanaging and attempting to suppress the extent of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, Beijing took extraordinary measures to combat the virus, including locking down cities and shuttering the country’s economy. These tactics substantially decreased transmission of the disease but at a huge economic cost; China’s economy is estimated to have contracted in the first quarter of 2020, the first time in decades.
China will continue pumping money into infrastructure projects and using state media to encourage industries to come back online. Despite Beijing’s message of optimism, Chinese firms have faced a steep decline in demand, and economists are expecting growth far below the 6% forecast at the beginning of the year. Expect a continued loosening of restrictions on movement and industry in Beijing amidst increasing efforts to clamp down on small-scale outbreaks from imported cases and previously missed asymptomatic carriers.
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