A year on, markets bustling in Wuhan where COVID-19 emerged
Live MintHundreds of shoppers pack a wet market on a December weekday morning in the Chinese city of Wuhan, jostling to buy fresh vegetables and live fish, frogs and turtles. Almost a year since the city reported the world's first cases of COVID-19 in one of its handful of vast wet markets, and even as several other countries remain firmly in the grip of the subsequent pandemic, life in Wuhan has largely returned to normal. Few hints remain of Wuhan's early role in the coronavirus pandemic, which has since infected more than 67 million people globally, killing around 1.5 million people. "I really missed these more fun and exciting times, like going out shopping and eating with my friends," said 27-year-old shopper Hu Hang on Monday at a packed Wuhan night market selling Christmas sweaters among other goods. "I haven't been overseas, so I don't understand it well, but looking at the TV it seems like foreign countries don't put human life first," said Mr Li, a 54-year old Wuhan street food vendor, who reopened his shop in June.