Wuhan, China reported its first new case of COVID-19 barely a month after the strict lockdown was lifted on April 8. The patient is an 89-year-old man who may have contracted the virus from his wife who was found to be asymptomatic.
The patient resides in the Dongxihu district where 20 other infected people were also living. As a result, Chinese officials placed the district under a "medium" risk level.
The news is significant in that Wuhan is the epicenter of the virus. It is where the first COVID-19 case was reported in December 2019. The city saw a total of 50,334 coronavirus cases and about 3,869 deaths. It was under strict lockdown since January.
Nationwide, China reported 17 new cases on Saturday which was also the largest since April 28. The majority of these new cases were not in Wuhan, however. The new cases were reported in Shulan, a city located in China's northeastern Jilin province. There were also two cases (one each) reported out of Heilongjiang and Liaoning.
Shulan is a city near the Russian and North Korean borders. The officials have since then placed the region under high risk. Remarkably, all new cases were being linked to a woman with no known travel history. With that, sports facilities, cinemas, and libraries went back to temporary closures. Students of middle or senior high school will return to online classes while taxis and all public transportations in the city were suspended.
The emergence of new cases came as Shanghai Disneyland officially reopened its door to tourists on Monday after three months of shutdown. This branch of Walt Disney Co is the first park to open amid the pandemic. Observers say it set as the model for which other Disneyland will make its decision on whether to reopen or remain close.
To make tourists feel comfortable, Shanghai Disneyland made wearing masks mandatory for everyone, including employees. There are also temperature screenings and social distancing is strictly observed. The park has also canceled parades and fireworks, as well as interactive children's play areas and indoor live theater shows. Instead, guests are treated to an evening light projection show.
The park is also restricting its number of visitors to only 20% of its daily capacity prior to the pandemic. In 2016, Shanghai Disneyland saw more than 10 million guests during the first year of opening. By estimates, the park will only welcome 16,000 people daily.
