The Chinese government will begin relaxing restrictions on travel to and from Hubei province, the center of the global coronavirus pandemic, on Wednesday, in a major milestone in the country’s two-month battle against the disease.
The Hubei Health Commission announced on Tuesday that the liberalization will initially apply to all areas of the province except for Wuhan, the provincial capital, where the travel ban will stay in place until April 8.
The announcement comes two weeks after President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan, in a signal that the Chinese government felt it had reached a turning point in the “people’s war” against the coronavirus.