Police set up roadblocks at expressway
entrances. Only truckers leaving the city to
collect food and a handful of other drivers with
official passes were allowed through. Bus and
subway service was shut down.
Restaurants, shops, cinemas and other
businesses were ordered to close, leaving streets
empty and silent in a foreshadowing of controls
that would spread to other countries. Families
were ordered to stay home.
Restrictions spread to cities near Wuhan and
eventually expanded to cover some 800 million
people, more than half of China’s population.
Wuhan became the center of a massive effort
to treat the sick, understand the virus and
stop its spread. Two temporary hospitals with
more than 1,000 beds each were built and a
third one was set up in an exhibition center.
Hundreds of military doctors and nurses were
dispatched to the city, along with tons of
medical supplies.
President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan for the first
time March 10 in a show of official confidence
that the virus was under control. The next
day, the government began to ease controls
on Hubei, allowing some factories and other
businesses deemed essential to reopen.
On Monday, about 75% of shops in the Chuhe
Hanjie mall in the city center were open but many
imposed limits on how many people could enter.
Shopkeepers set up dispensers for hand sanitizer
and checked customers for signs of fever.
Buses and subways started to run again and the
train station reopened, bringing thousands of
people to the city.