Move to ease Wuhan quarantine hours scrapped

BEIJING: Authorities in Wuhan yesterday reversed a decision that would have allowed some people to leave the quarantined city at the centre of China’s deadly virus epidemic, and reprimanded officials who had made the announcement.

The city government said in a statement the previous announcement had been made by a traffic prevention and control group “without the consent” of the local leadership.

“The announcement is declared invalid. In this regard, we have seriously dealt with the relevant personnel,” the city said on its official account on Twitter-like Weibo.

Wuhan’s government deleted the previous post that had announced the easing of restrictions barely three hours earlier.

Officials in Wuhan were already under fire for their handling of the epidemic, accused of initially covering up the first outbreaks, botching the response and causing confusion by changing criteria to count the number of cases.

The now-scrapped decision would have allowed non-residents to leave if they show no symptoms of the new coronavirus and have never had contact with patients, the deleted statement said.

People with special reasons to leave the city, including those who needed treatment for other medical conditions and those doing epidemic prevention work, would also have been allowed to exit.

The statement had said departures would be staggered and people would have had to apply for permission from local authorities before leaving.

Once travellers reached their destinations outside of Wuhan, they would have had to report themselves to local authorities and monitor their health for 14 days.

The announcement would have also allowed people to enter the city for epidemic prevention or if they were Wuhan residents who had previously been unable to return home. – AFP