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Episode details

World Service,26 Sep 2020,23 mins

Coronavirus: Back to normal in Wuhan?

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We hear a conversation about what life is like now in the Chinese city where Covid-19 was first detected. Officials have declared Wuhan virus-free. Lots of people have been sharing pictures from bars in the city, which suggest life has gone back to the way it was before. It's a huge contrast to much of the rest of the world, which is still dealing with high infection rates and associated restrictions. Two people who live in Wuhan tell Nuala McGovern about their newly restored freedoms. Are they confident that they've seen the back of the virus? We also spend some time in countries at very different stages of their epidemics. There were street parties in the Czech Republic at the end of June to say "farewell" to coronavirus, including one on the famous Charles Bridge in the capital, Prague. As cases surge again, we speak to one of the organisers of that party as part of a group of Czechs, who talk about their tolerance for restrictions and how their lives have been changed. Meanwhile, people in Panama have only just emerged from one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, which lasted many months and had one unusual feature. Men and women were allowed out of their homes on alternate days. We hear how three Panamanians feel about what they've been through and the implications for the future. (Photo: Inside a bar in Wuhan, China, 18 September 2020. Credit: Getty Images)

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