A message from Wuhan residents to countries that scrutinized the city's lockdown, one year on

Editor's note:

A year ago, Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first reported in China, made a decision that has little parallel in modern society: to lock down the city of 11 million. During the 76-day lockdown, the city struggled to save lives and contain the virus, while maintaining the daily lives of ordinary people, a strategy that Chinese top epidemiologists said to "suffocate the virus within Wuhan." The city was therefore dubbed a "heroic city," whose sacrifice paved the way for the quick recovery of the country. When the city returned to bustling normal life in April, and Western countries, one by one, faced a more severe onslaught of the coronavirus, many Wuhan people, initially puzzled by their government's decision to seal off the city, became staunch supporters of the decision. A year has passed; what impression has the lockdown left on Wuhan people and what's their message for countries that once ridiculed Wuhan's lockdown?

On January 20, the streets of Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei Province were decorated with 30,000 red lanterns for the upcoming Spring Festival holiday. Photo: VCG

For most Wuhan residents, their memory of COVID-19, the pandemic that upended lives across the globe, started on January 23, 2020, the day the Wuhan government announced to seal off the city of 11 million people. The decision that has little parallel in modern society initially puzzled many locals, who soon turned into firm supporters of the strict management after seeing the city bounce back fast from its COVID-19 swoon while some Western countries, one-by-one, dragged their feet into coronavirus lulls.

Now, Wuhan's lockdown measures have become an enduring tool to quell the coronavirus worldwide. China, bouncing back fastest and strongest from the pandemic, has refined such management methods to a "precise virus prevention mode," where small outbreaks were contained one by one, with economic recovery barely affected. But countries like the US, which have been through several rounds of lockdowns, are still facing an onslaught of COVID-19, and the daily deaths of thousands almost became a new normal there.

One year on, what impression has the rare lockdown left on Wuhan people, and what's their message for countries that had ridiculed their choice?