Photos: COVID-19-hit Wuhan cautiously revives amid thicket of control

Wuhan: Released from their apartments after a 2 1/2-month quarantine, residents of the city where the coronavirus pandemic began are cautiously returning to shopping and strolling in the streets. But they say they still go out little and keep their children home while waiting for schools to reopen.

Wuhan's 11 million people still face a thicket of controls after curbs that kept most of them from leaving the sprawling city ended this week. Office buildings require visitors to show a smartphone app that tracks their health. A salesman said he has to report details of trips across the city to authorities.

Wuhan's gradual steps toward reviving business and daily life while trying to prevent a resurgence of the virus foreshadow the struggle that other cities in Asia and the West face once they ease anti-disease controls that have shut down global travel and devastated trade.

Restaurants, subways and other public facilities shut down in a pattern that would spread to other Asian countries and Europe as infections rose. Families were ordered to stay home, leaving streets empty and silent. Controls spread to other cities, eventually affecting 800 million people.

People in Wuhan should consider wearing masks for another three months, said Dr. Zhang Junjian, the former head of one of three temporary coronavirus hospitals set up in the city. He said that wasn't an official decision.

Schools that have been teaching over the internet have yet to announce when they might reopen. School officials have said they were disinfecting buildings and designing a lighter workload so students can ease back into classroom work.

An employee of an irrigation company who would give only her surname, Xu, said her 10-year-old had gotten used to having class online. She said she felt more comfortable with that arrangement for now.

Some apartment complexes still bar outsiders. Similar curbs are in place in the capital, Beijing, and other cities. That keeps Zhang Juan's customers away. Zhang runs a shop in a residential compound where she said only one member of each household is allowed out each day.

The shutdown added to business for online grocers and other e-commerce companies, propelling the industry's already explosive growth.

Potential homebuyers now can see about 95% of Wuhan's 1,500 new residential projects online, according to Hu Haibo, a real estate salesman.

``We used to take customers to show houses or apartments they wanted to buy or rent, but now we can only show them online,'' Hu said. ``Not many customers like to make a purchase without seeing properties in person.''

A couple share a quiet moment on the streets of Wuhan in central China's Hubei province.