Coronavirus: Life under lockdown — Wuhan's windows, balconies and rooftops

A woman places items out on a balcony to dry at a residential compound in Wuhan. The central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus is believed to have originated, remains under lockdown after more than 50 days, even as the world's attention has shifted to other hotspots.

A woman places food out on a balcony to dry at a residential compound in Wuhan. Chinese officials and some public health experts have credited the draconian confinement measures on a city of 11 million, and much of Hubei province, of which it is the capital, with slowing the spread of the disease and turning the tide of infection across China.

A man looks out of the window while eating noodles at a residential compound. | Other countries, including Iran, Italy and the United States, are struggling to manage their outbreaks. But even as the number of new reported cases falls in Wuhan, people in the city remain suspended in an isolated new normal.

A child plays next to adults sitting on the roof terrace of a building. Residents are forbidden from venturing out of their homes even to buy food, which must be delivered. Schools and most shops remain shut, and roads are virtually empty.

High-rise residential buildings are pictured in Wuhan. | On Tuesday, Wuhan closed the last of 14 makeshift hospitals set up to treat and isolate patients after the outbreak had overwhelmed the city's healthcare system.

More than 50,000 coronavirus cases have been reported in Wuhan, with over 2,400 deaths, making it the location hardest-hit by far in an epidemic that has infected more than 125,000 people globally and killed over 4,600.

The outbreak has also exacted an unquantifiable psychological toll on people in Wuhan as families cope with loss, children are unable to go to school or play outside, and livelihoods are imperilled as people can't go to work.

A woman knits as she sits on the terrace of a building at a residential compound.

A man walks on the rooftop of a building.

Children play football as a man gets his hair cut on the roof terrace of a building.

A man checks his mobile phone by the window of a residential building.

A man stands on the terrace of a building at a residential compound.

A woman stands on the terrace of a building at a residential compound.

A woman hangs laundry up to dry in front of a woman sitting on a roof of a building, at a residential compound.

A woman places food to dry outside on a laundry rack by the window of a building.

A woman leans out of a window as she hangs laundry out to dry, at a residential compound.

A man smokes a cigarette by the window of a residential building.

A man looks out of the window of a residential building.

A man looks out of the window at a residential compound.

A woman leans out of a window above closed shops blocked by barricade.

A man stands on the terrace of a building at a residential compound.

A man stands on the terrace of a building as he speaks to someone below at a residential compound.

A woman looks at her mobile phone as she sits on a balcony near a man standing by a window at a residential compound.

An elderly man stands on a balcony at a residential compound.

A woman looks outside from the balcony at a residential compound in Wuhan.

A man wearing a face mask stands on the terrace of a building in Wuhan.