THE Chinese city of Wuhan has reopened, marking a major success in the “people’s war” on coronavirus, while imperialist countries ratchet up a media war with the spread of anti-China propaganda.

Once the epicentre of the global pandemic, Wuhan has seen the lifting of roadblocks after a two-month lockdown, allowing entry into the city of 11 million.

There were as many as 50,000 cases of Covid-19 in the Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, at the peak of the outbreak.

At least 3,000 people out of the 58 million population of Hubei are believed to have died after contracting the virus.

But on Saturday official statistics showed that there were just 54 new cases of Covid-19, all of which China said had been imported.

Roads into the city reopened on Friday and Wuhan’s 17 train stations accepted arrivals on Saturday. Strict measures remain in place: entrants have to show a green code on a mobile phone app to prove that they are free from Covid-19. 

Restrictions on people leaving Wuhan are expected to be lifted from April 8, when flights are also expected to resume.

As China leads the global fight against the pandemic, sending tonnes of aid and teams of medical experts to the worst-hit countries, it faces a backlash from imperialist nations and their compliant media allies.

US President Donald Trump has consistently referred to Covid-19 as “the Chinese virus” — to widespread condemnation, with many accusing him of trying to cover up for his failure to cope in a crisis.

Republican senator Tom Cotton also picked up the Sinophobic baton, claiming: “China unleashed this plague on the world and China has to be held accountable.” 

The beleaguered US president has been forced into a U-turn, implementing the National Production Act less than a week after refusing to do so on grounds that it would be “nationalisation.”

He finally invoked the act on Friday, forcing auto-giant General Motors to switch production to make much-needed ventilators.

In Britain the Daily Mail ran with a headline claiming Downing Street was outraged over “China’s lies.”

The right-wing newspaper was joined by the increasingly erratic liberal commentator Paul Mason, who accused China of “suppressing news and stats” and using “aid as geopolitics,” though he pointed out that the headline was intended to divert attention away from the British government’s failures.

Despite the hostility, China has continued to offer support in the global fight against Covid-19.

On Saturday a team of medics left Shandong province for Britain to help efforts to contain the virus.