When will Wuhan South China Seafood Market reopen? Official notice:

According to the official Weibo of the Jianghan District Government Office inWuhan, due to unknown reasons pneumonia patients continue to appear in theSouth China Sea product market, the South China Sea product wholesale marketclosed on January 1 for environmental sanitation. On January 2nd, theJianghan District Market Supervision Administration and the Health Bureau answeredreporters' questions on related issues:

First, why the city should be closed

Recently, some medical institutions have received many cases ofpneumonia. After receiving the report, the Wuhan Municipal HealthCommittee immediately conducted an epidemiological investigation and confirmedthat most of the cases were related to the South China seafood market.

According to the provisions of the State Council's "Regulations on PublicHealth Emergencies" and other laws and regulations and the notification ofthe Wuhan Municipal Health Committee on the current pneumonia epidemicsituation in our city, after research, it was decided to suspend the southernseafood market. For the rest of the market, the South China Seafood Marketwill not allow trading and the market will be cleaned anddisinfected. Relevant departments conduct joint law enforcementinspections, strengthen supervision, ensure that various prevention and controlmeasures are in place, and protect the health and life safety of the generalpublic.

2. When can it reopen

on January 1, 2020, the Wuhan Jianghan District Market Supervision andAdministration Bureau and Wuhan Jianghan District Health and Sanitation Bureaujointly issued the "Announcement on the Rest of the Market" anddecided to suspend the market and carry out environmental sanitation. Theopening hours will be announced separately. The municipal and districtgovernments attach great importance to people's health prevention and control,and have adopted a number of measures to protect citizens from infection asmuch as possible. Suspending the market is one of the important controlmeasures. I hope you can understand and cooperate with me.

How to protect the residents around the market

Winter and spring are the seasons with high incidence of respiratorydiseases. Experts remind pregnant women, children, people with potentialillnesses, and the elderly and infirm to avoid closed, unventilated or crowdedpublic places. Citizens should develop good hygiene habits, includingcovering their nose and nose, washing their hands frequently when coughing,ventilating frequently, and wearing a mask when going out.

Wuhan Jianghan District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau

Wuhan Jianghan District Health Bureau

January 2, 2020

(Original title: Reply to the question of closing the South China SeafoodWholesale Market)