Can China return to normalcy while keeping the corona virus in check?
Science’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.
Life is almost back to normal in much of China. Shops, restaurants, bars, and offices are open for business. Manufacturing activity is picking up. Traffic once again jams the highways of major cities. Three quarters of China's workforce was back on the job as of 24 March, according to one company’s estimate. Wuhan, where the COVID-19 pandemic originated, is lagging, as is the rest of Hubei province—but even there, the lock down is due to lift 8 April.
China has done what few believed was possible: bring a blazing epidemic of a respiratory virus to a virtual standstill. On 18 March, the country reported zero locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 for the first time. Since then, only 6 of such infections have been reported, only one of them in Wuhan. Now, the key question is: Can China keep it that way?
Public health officials worldwide are watching closely. "China is addressing an issue every country and location in the world will eventually face: how to normalise and restore societal activities, while at the same time minimising disease-related dangers from the outbreak," says epidemiologist Keiji Fukuda of the University of Hong Kong.
New infections now mostly come from outside: More than 500 cases have been confirmed in incoming air passengers since 18 March. At midnight on Friday, China banned virtually all foreigners from entering the country and required all returning Chinese to be quarantined for 2 weeks, whether coming by air or over land. But there is still danger within the country as well. The smattering of locally transmitted cases show that the virus isn’t entirely gone. And the very low case numbers may be deceptive. In its tally, China’s National Health Commission does not include people who test positive for the virus but have no symptoms, and local authorities are reportedly suppressing information on new infections to meet the target of zero local cases.
Can China return to normalcy while keeping the coronavirus in check?
Science’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.
Life is almost back to normal in much of China. Shops, restaurants, bars, and offices are open for business. Manufacturing activity is picking up. Traffic once again jams the highways of major cities. Three quarters of China's workforce was back on the job as of 24 March, according to one company’s estimate. Wuhan, where the COVID-19 pandemic originated, is lagging, as is the rest of Hubei province—but even there, the lock down is due to lift 8 April.
China has done what few believed was possible: bring a blazing epidemic of a respiratory virus to a virtual standstill. On 18 March, the country reported zero locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 for the first time. Since then, only 6 of such infections have been reported, only one of them in Wuhan. Now, the key question is: Can China keep it that way?
Public health officials worldwide are watching closely. "China is addressing an issue every country and location in the world will eventually face: how to normalise and restore societal activities, while at the same time minimising disease-related dangers from the outbreak," says epidemiologist Keiji Fukuda of the University of Hong Kong.
New infections now mostly come from outside: More than 500 cases have been confirmed in incoming air passengers since 18 March. At midnight on Friday, China banned virtually all foreigners from entering the country and required all returning Chinese to be quarantined for 2 weeks, whether coming by air or over land. But there is still danger within the country as well. The smattering of locally transmitted cases show that the virus isn’t entirely gone. And the very low case numbers may be deceptive. In its tally, China’s National Health Commission does not include people who test positive for the virus but have no symptoms, and local authorities are reportedly suppressing information on new infections to meet the target of zero local cases. 
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