Wuhan marks a year since lockdown as pandemic rages worldwide

China’s city of Wuhan marked one year since the start of its traumatic 76-day coronavirus lockdown on Saturday while the pandemic continued to rage elsewhere, with President Joe Biden warning the US death toll could pass 600,000.
Traffic hummed, sidewalks bustled, and citizens packed parks and public transport in Wuhan, underscoring the scale of the recovery in the metropolis of 11 million where the pathogen first emerged before going global.
The spread of COVID-19 was accelerating elsewhere, however, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying a new strain that emerged in the United Kingdom could be deadlier and more transmissible than the one that menaced Wuhan a year ago.
“In addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant … may be associated with a higher degree of mortality,” Johnson told a news conference.