Xi makes 1st visit since coronavirus outbreak to Wuhan

China’s President Xi Jinping Tuesday made a trip to the coronavirus’ epicenter of Wuhan — his first since the start of the outbreak — came as parts of his country return to normalcy, and was a sign of the diminishing threat the illness presents in China as it spreads west.

State media reported Xi arrived in the morning in Wuhan, which has been under lockdown along with several nearby cities since late January in a disease-containment measure.

The city has the bulk of the country's more than 80,000 confirmed cases, and authorities sent thousands of medical workers and built several prefabricated isolation wards to deal with its mass of COVID-19 patients.

Xi is supposed to inspect the epidemic prevention and control work and visit medical workers, community volunteers, patients and others on the front lines, state media said.

President Jinping’s visit came as people gradually began to return to work in other parts of China while the virus spreads to most of the world, seriously impacting travel, markets and the global economy.

Since the virus was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, the death toll across mainland China has risen to 3,136. The total number of confirmed cases in mainland China now stands at 80,754. Among them, 59,905 people diagnosed with the virus have recovered.

Source: Agencies

 

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