Thousands of people streamed out of the city for the first time in months.
4 min read
A global pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed at least 12,893 people in the United States.
The United States is among the worst affected countries, with nearly 400,000 people diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Worldwide, more than 1.4 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and over 82,000 of them have died since the virus emerged in China in December. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some governments are hiding the scope of their nations’ outbreaks.
Italy has, by far, the world’s highest death toll — over 17,100.
Tune into ABC at 1 p.m. ET and ABC News Live at 4 p.m. ET every weekday for special coverage of the novel coronavirus with the full ABC News team, including the latest news, context and analysis.
Today’s biggest developments:
- China lifts lockdown in city where pandemic began
- New York City death toll from COVID-19 tops that on 9/11
- US death toll nears 13,000
- How it started and how to protect yourself: Coronavirus explained
- What to do if you have symptoms: Coronavirus symptoms
- Tracking the spread in the U.S. and worldwide: Coronavirus map
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern. Please refresh this page for updates.
3 a.m.: China lifts lockdown in city where pandemic began
Chinese authorities have lifted a monthslong lockdown on Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus pandemic began.
The very first cases of the novel coronavirus were detected in Wuhan back in December. The city of 11 million people went on lockdown on Jan. 23 in an effort to control the spread of the virus, the first in the world to do so.
The bulk of the Chinese mainland’s nearly 82,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and over 3,300 deaths have been reported in Wuhan, the capital of central Hubei province. However, the strict travel restrictions in the city have been gradually eased in recent weeks as the number of new infections continuously declined.
The final restrictions on outbound travel were lifted Wednesday. Thousands of people streamed out of the city via car, train and plane.
China’s National Health Commission on Wednesday reported no new cases in Wuhan nor the greater Hubei province, though questions have been raised over the accuracy of China’s figures.
