Inside Wuhan: Life after coronavirus lockdown

On 8 April, the Chinese government lifted lockdown in Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus pandemic began. Two months on, 11 million people are still trying to restart their lives – and one Wuhan film-maker has set out to capture it.

German tabloid 'Bild' demands China pay coronavirus damages

As China relaxes lockdown restrictions in Hubei Province and Wuhan city, where the coronavirus pandemic is believed to have started, and Germany's health minister declares his country's outbreak as now "manageable," people are lining up to blame the pandemic on China. German largest tabloid newspaper, Bild, has rather helpfully drawn up an itemized invoice with a 27-billion euro charge for lost tourism revenue between March and April, up to 7.2 billion for the German film industry, a million euros an hour for German airline Lufthansa and 50 billion for German small businesses

Wuhan pays tribute to key workers with light show as lockdown is lifted

A midnight light show brightened up the sky in Wuhan as the former centre of the coronavirus outbreak celebrated its 'reopening'. The central Chinese city started lifting outbound travel restrictions on Wednesday after almost 11 weeks of lockdown. Across the Yangtze River, skyscrapers and seven bridges radiated with images of health workers, troops, police officers and other key workers

'I've never felt so happy': Hubei lifts travel restrictions after coronavirus lockdown

Tens of millions of Chinese residents living near the centre of the coronavirus outbreak are now able to resume travel after authorities lifted restrictions in Hubei province, except in the city of Wuhan. The move comes as China claims to have largely brought the outbreak under control, reporting only imported cases of the virus and few or no new domestic cases in recent days. The claims have been questioned by residents and analysts, who note reported refusals to test for the virus by some hospitals, allegations of manipulated numbers, and rumours of unreported cases

Timeline: The early days of China's coronavirus outbreak and cover-up

Axios has compiled a timeline of the earliest weeks of the coronavirus outbreak in China, highlighting when the cover-up started and ended — and showing how, during that time, the virus already started spreading around the world, including to the United States.

Why it matters: A study published in March indicated that if Chinese authorities had acted three weeks earlier than they did, the number of coronavirus cases could have been reduced by 95% and its geographic spread limited.

This timeline, compiled from information reported by the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the South China Morning Post and other sources, shows that China's cover-up and the delay in serious measures to contain the virus lasted about three weeks.

Dec. 10: Wei Guixian, one of the earliest known coronavirus patients, starts feeling ill.

Dec. 16: Patient admitted to Wuhan Central Hospital with infection in both lungs but resistant to anti-flu drugs. Staff later learned he worked at a wildlife market connected to the outbreak.

Dec. 27: Wuhan health officials are told that a new coronavirus is causing the illness.

Dec. 30:

• Ai Fen, a top director at Wuhan Central Hospital, posts information on WeChat about the new virus. She was reprimanded for doing so and told not to spread information about it.
• Wuhan doctor Li Wenliang also shares information on WeChat about the new SARS-like virus. He is called in for questioning shortly afterward.
• Wuhan health commission notifies hospitals of a “pneumonia of unclear cause” and orders them to report any related information.

Dec. 31:

• Wuhan health officials confirm 27 cases of illness and close a market they think is related to the virus' spread.
• China tells the World Health Organization’s China office about the cases of an unknown illness.

Jan. 1: Wuhan Public Security Bureau brings in for questioning eight doctors who had posted information about the illness on WeChat.

• An official at the Hubei Provincial Health Commission orders labs, which had already determined that the novel virus was similar to SARS, to stop testing samples and to destroy existing samples.

Jan. 2: Chinese researchers map the new coronavirus' complete genetic information. This information is not made public until Jan. 9.

Jan. 7: Xi Jinping becomes involved in the response.

Jan. 9: China announces it has mapped the coronavirus genome.

Jan. 11–17: Important prescheduled CCP meeting held in Wuhan. During that time, the Wuhan Health Commission insists there are no new cases.

Jan. 13: First coronavirus case reported in Thailand, the first known case outside China.

Jan. 14: WHO announces Chinese authorities have seen "no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus."

Jan. 15: The patient who becomes the first confirmed U.S. case leaves Wuhan and arrives in the U.S., carrying the coronavirus.

Jan. 18:

• The Wuhan Health Commission announces four new cases.
• Annual Wuhan Lunar New Year banquet. Tens of thousands of people gathered for a potluck.

Jan. 19: Beijing sends epidemiologists to Wuhan.

Jan. 20:

• The first case announced in South Korea.
• Zhong Nanshan, a top Chinese doctor who is helping to coordinate the coronavirus response, announces the virus can be passed between people.

Jan. 21:

• The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms the first coronavirus case in the United States.
• CCP flagship newspaper People’s Daily mentions the coronavirus epidemic and Xi's actions to fight it for the first time.
• China's top political commission in charge of law and order warns that “anyone who deliberately delays and hides the reporting of [virus] cases out of his or her own self-interest will be nailed on the pillar of shame for eternity."

Jan. 23: Wuhan and three other cities are put on lockdown. Right around this time, approximately 5 million people leave the city without being screened for the illness.

Jan. 24–30: China celebrates the Lunar New Year holiday. Hundreds of millions of people are in transit around the country as they visit relatives.

Jan. 24: China extends the lockdown to cover 36 million people and starts to rapidly build a new hospital in Wuhan. From this point, very strict measures continue to be implemented around the country for the rest of the epidemic.

The bottom line: China is now trying to create a narrative that it's an example of how to handle this crisis when in fact its early actions led to the virus spreading around the globe.

Is China losing control of the coronavirus outbreak?

China's President is admitting shortfalls in the response to the coronavirus outbreak. Xi Jinping is promising to fix problems and loopholes in the health system. The epicentre of the outbreak, Hubei province, reported a sharp increase in new cases. But the World Health Organization says that's because doctors are using a broader definition to diagnose the infected. Hubei's communist party chief is among four local leaders to be sacked for mismanaging the response.

'Contact is limited': inside the world's coronavirus quarantines

People who are being held in facilities in dozens of countries explain what daily life is like and their hopes for returning home soon. China's Hubei province, where the coronavirus originated from, is under lockdown to limit spreading. The death toll has risen to 724, with 86 more people dying in mainland China, according to officials. This is the highest one-day jump so far