Majority of the stalls at Wuhan’s largest wet market resumed business after officials lifted the coronavirus lockdown.
Baishazhou wet market saw cars lined up at the main entrance, while signs that says, “No slaughtering and selling live animals” was put up overhead.
More than 3,600 shops are back in business at Baishazhou, while officials banned live wild animal and livestock trading in an effort to prevent further coronavirus spread.
Wuhan’s wet markets are now the center of a global debate – as to whether they should be allowed to continue to operate, since one market in Wuhan was identified as one of the first places where COVID-19 was detected.
However, wet markets in China and a number of countries in Asia are an important part of the citizen’s daily lives.
Beijing’s central government now face the challenge of keeping such markets open while enforcing rules against live animal slaughter or on site wildlife sale.
Dr. Zhenzhong Si, a research associate at the University of Waterloo who studies China’s food security said, “Banning wet markets is not only going to be impossible, but will also be destructive for urban food security in China as they play such a pivotal role in ensuring urban residents’ access to affordable and healthy food.”
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) carried out an investigation in January, and suggested that the source of the virus was due to wildlife being sold as livestock.
They believe that the deadly disease jumped from wild animals to humans, and is mostly likely by an intermediary species such as bats.
This, and the widely held assessment that Wuhan is the birthplace of the global outbreak has been constantly rejected by Beijing.
Coronavirus cases in mainland China continued to fall since March, and health officials shifted their focus on a possible second wave of infections brought upon by citizens returning from overseas.