It is an anniversary that China does not particularly wish to celebrate.

A year ago, on January 11, 2020, China announced that the first death of a mysterious virus had been recorded two days earlier in the metropolis of Wuhan, populated by 11 million inhabitants.  

>> To read: In China, the pneumonia epidemic records a first death

More than 1.9 million people have since lost their lives on the surface of the globe as a result of the Covid-19 epidemic.

In Wuhan, as elsewhere in China, the pandemic was largely under control in the spring and the national death toll has officially remained at 4,634 since mid-May. 

In the city in the center of the country, the first to be placed in quarantine as of January 23, 2020, residents went about their business normally Monday morning, while the media of the communist regime kept silent this first anniversary. 

"The safest city" 

"Wuhan is the safest city in China and even the world now," boasted 60-year-old Xiong Liansheng in a park where retirees dance or do their morning exercises, some with face masks on. 

"The locals are very aware of the preventive measures. Even my grandson wears a mask when he goes out and he is only two years old," added Xiong. 

China has been criticized for its initial response to the outbreak.

Doctors in Wuhan, who had mentioned the existence of the virus, have been accused by the police of spreading rumors. 

The very name of the first known victim has never been made public.

We just know that it is a 61-year-old man who used to go to the Huanan market to do his shopping. 

WHO experts 

This market, considered the first major focus of the epidemic, was closed on January 1, 2020. Live wild animals were sold there, considered to be possible transmitters of the virus to humans.

On Monday, the market remained closed behind a long fence. 

Further north, the country has been facing a limited epidemic resurgence in recent days in Hebei, the province that surrounds Beijing.

A hundred contaminations were announced there, Monday, for the last 24 hours, the highest figure nationally since July. 

Eighteen million inhabitants of two large municipalities are prohibited from leaving the boundaries of their municipality. 

With AFP

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