WUHAN: China ramped up efforts on Monday to heal the world’s second-biggest economy as health authorities reported a further drop in new coronavirus cases, although the country remains wary of carriers of the disease coming from abroad and infected people who exhibit no symptoms.
The city of Wuhan, the source of the pandemic, reported no new cases for a sixth day, as businesses reopened and residents set about reclaiming a more normal life after a lockdown of almost two months.
Smartly turned out staff waited in masks and gloves to greet customers at entrances to the newly reopened Wuhan International Plaza, home to boutiques of luxury brands such as Cartier and Louis Vuitton.
“The Wuhan International Plaza is very representative (of the city),” said Zhang Yu, 29. “So its reopening really makes me feel this city is coming back to life.”
Electric carmaker Tesla Inc has also reopened a showroom in Wuhan.
Sunday’s tally of 31 new cases in mainland China – comprising one locally transmitted infection and 30 imported cases – was down from 45 the previous day, the National Health Commission said.
As infections fall, policymakers are scrambling to revitalise an economy nearly paralysed by months of curbs aimed at controlling the spread of the flu-like disease.
The government is pushing businesses and factories to reopen, as it rolls out fiscal and monetary stimulus to spur recovery from what is feared to be an outright economic contraction in the quarter to March.
China’s exports and imports could worsen as the pandemic spreads, depressing demand both at home and abroad, Xin Guobin, the vice minister of industry and information technology, said on Monday.
VIRUS CONCERNS
Worried about a second wave triggered by returning Chinese, many of them students, China cut international flights massively from Sunday for an indefinite period, after it began denying entry to almost all foreigners a day earlier.
Average daily arrivals at airports this week are expected to be about 4,000, down from 25,000 last week, an official of the Civil Aviation Administration of China said on Monday.
The return to work has also prompted concern about potential domestic infections as travel curbs are rolled back, especially regarding carriers who exhibit no, or very mild, symptoms of the highly contagious virus.
