Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Wuhan this morning, his first visit to the city since the outbreak of Covid-19.

Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, to "check the disease prevention" in the area and visits frontline medical staff, military commanders, and staff. community, police as well as volunteers, patients and citizens, according to Chinese state media.

This is Xi's first visit to Wuhan, where Covid-19 began in December 2019. The city has been frozen since late January, after nCoV was supposedly appearing at an illegal wildlife trade market and causing an outbreak.

Xi's unannounced visit comes amid drastic quarantine measures in Wuhan and the rest of Hubei province seem to have paid off, with the number of new cases dropping significantly in recent weeks. .

The National Health Commission of China (NHC) today announced that only 17 new cases were in Wuhan, while the remaining two cases in Beijing and Guangdong province were patients returning from abroad. Wuhan recorded more than 80,000 cases of infection and the government dispatched thousands of health workers as well as set up field hospitals to cope with the disease. The city plans to close the last two field hospitals today.

Prior to Xi's visit, Deputy Prime Minister Ton Xuan Lan went to Wuhan to oversee the operation of a committee that was supposed to look after people during the blockade. When Ms. Sun and a group of officials walked along the apartment yard, people on the floors screamed and protested through the window.

Xi came to February to examine the prevention and control of Covid-19 at a medical center in Chaoyang District, Beijing's capital. It was Xi's first public appearance since Covid-19 broke out. His absence from the media at the time surprised many, because the national leader had to be at the front line when there was a crisis.