Coronavirus: Wuhan celebrates end of lockdown with dazzling light show

Thousands leave city after restrictions lifted on Wednesday

China has lifted an 11-week lockdown in the city of Wuhan, celebrating the occasion with a light show over the Yangtze River.

The closure of Wuhan, the in Hubei Province where coronavirus was first identified late last year, started on 23 January and lasted 76 days.

According to official figures, Wuhan has had more than 50,000 coronavirus cases and more than 2,500 deaths as a result of the disease, roughly 80 per cent of all deaths in the country.

On Wednesday, people in the city of 11 million people were allowed to travel, provided they have a smartphone application confirming good health and showing they had not been in close contact with anyone who has contracted the virus.

It is expected that more than 50,000 people will leave the city by plane and train on Wednesday - either to go home or to jobs outside Wuhan.

Once the travel restrictions stopped at midnight on Wednesday, traffic quickly began to leave the city.

Yan Xiangsheng, a district police chief, said that almost 1,000 vehicles went through a busy highway toll on the outskirts of the city between midnight and 7 am.

Back in the city, Tong Zhengkun, a Wuhan resident, watched the light display from a bridge, saying: “I haven’t been outside for more than 70 days. Being indoors for so long drove me crazy.”

His apartment complex was shut after other residents tested positive for Covid-19 and food was dropped off at his door by neighbourhood workers.

On the same day that the lockdown in Wuhan ended, a city in northern China restricted the movement of its citizens.