Thousands flock to leave Wuhan as outbound travel ban ends

Thousands of travellers flocked to catch trains leaving Wuhan early Wednesday as authorities lifted a more than two-month ban on outbound travel from the hard-hit Chinese city where the global coronavirus pandemic first emerged.

The removal of the ban at midnight (1600 GMT Tuesday) ends an isolation that began when the government imposed an unprecedented lockdown in late January in an ultimately failed bid to contain the contagion.

Crowds of passengers filed into the city's Wuchang station to catch the first trains set to pull out of the city of 11 million shortly after midnight.

"Wuhan has lost a lot in this epidemic, and Wuhan people have paid a big price," said a 21-year-old man surnamed Yao, who was heading back to his restaurant job in Shanghai.

"Now that the lockdown has been lifted, I think we're all pretty happy."