Wuhan hospitals clear all COVID-19 cases

After milestone test, China to release white paper to declare success

As the last three COVID-19 patients in Wuhan have recovered and been discharged from the hospital, Central China’s Hubei Province, the most affected place during the epidemic in China, declared zero existing COVID-19 patients as of Thursday.

By Thursday, Hubei accomplished seven “zeros”: zero new COVID-19 cases, zero new suspected cases, zero new deaths, zero silent carriers, zero imported cases, zero existing confirmed cases and zero existing suspected cases, the provincial health official said.

The Wuhan authority said all districts in the city are considered low risk for coronavirus infection. Dongxihu district, the last medium-risk district in the city, reported zero new cases for 14 consecutive days to June 1, and its risk level was adjusted to low on June 2.

The province reported 68,135 cases, with 63,623 recovered and discharged, and 4,512 dead as of Thursday.

The news is encouraging and indicates the success of Wuhan’s anti-epidemic battle, Peng Zhiyong, director of the intensive care unit of the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, told the Global Times on Friday.

China will release a white paper on the country’s battle against the COVID-19 epidemic on Sunday, the Xinhua News Agency reported Friday. Experts believed the white paper would comprehensively show the world China’s antiepidemic process and convince the world of the country’s achievements.

“Everything indicates that we are moving out of the worst time toward the best time. Cheer up Wuhan!” Meng Ying, a Wuhan resident reached by the Global Times wrote on her WeChat account when reposting the news of Hubei’s seven “zeros” on Friday.

Hours after the announcements, Beijing authorities said they would ease restrictions on people from Hubei, including Wuhan to enter the capital.

Beijing’s relaxed measures include the lifting of the 14-day quarantine, and that they only need to provide one negative nucleic acid test result after arriving in Beijing. Previously, people from Hubei to Beijing had to be quarantined for 14 days and receive two nucleic acid tests, with both having to return with negative results, before being allowed to move freely in the capital.

The Beijing authorities said Friday that restrictions on Hubei, including Wuhan, people traveling by air, train and land to Beijing were lifted, except those from medium and highCOVID-19 infected areas.

Media reported that within half an hour of the Beijing authorities’ announcement, the number of searches for flights from Wuhan to Beijing on domestic online travel app Qunar rose nine-fold, and those for train tickets increased more than eight times compared to the same period the previous day.

Peng highlighted Wuhan’s recent thorough city-wide COVID-19 test covering 9,899,828 residents, results of which were released on Tuesday. Only 300 asymptomatic patients were found, with no confirmed COVID-19 cases.

“It is the good results that prove to the country and the world that Wuhan is safe, Hubei is safe,” Peng said, noting that the city-wide tests were a milestone that dispelled people’s doubts and enhanced their confidence in Wuhan’s anti-epidemic battle.

The results of the test should crush Western media’s smear that the China is hiding the real epidemic situation in Wuhan, Peng said.