Hubei city reopens for business after COVID19, then closes again 30 minutes later

Chinese city of Hubei, close to the epicenter of the novel coronavirus had lifted production limits and restriction on the movement of people for the first time after the outbreak but had to implement a complete lockdown just 30 minutes after it opened, reported South China Morning Post.

At 8:30 am on Wednesday (Local time), the government said that all restrictions on the movement of people and traffic would be lifted at 10 am.

The government again clamped down the movement at 10:30 am (local time). "The city will continue its restrictions on the movement of traffic and residents," the government said, without explaining further.

Later in the day, the Hubei government issued a statement outlining the different restrictions that applied to each city within the province based on their particular situation of the Covid-19.

It also said that only a handful of businesses in key sectors were permitted to resume their operations.

The statement also imposed a harsh lockdown in the city of Qianjiang, despite having the lowest number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 of any city in Hubei.

The provincial authority has classed it as "high risk" and ruled that all public transport would remain suspended.

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan, the epicenter of the deadly virus, to asses the situation.

Many cities except Wuhan had reported no new cases for consecutive days, leading to provincial leaders to conclude that restrictions can be lifted in order to get their economies back in business.

While Xi emphasized maintaining a stringent virus control regime, he has also asked authorities to start bringing life back to normal.