A medical worker collects a throat swab sample from a resident in Nangong county, Xingtai, Hebei Province, on January 17. Photo: Xinhua

 Low-risk regions in North China’s Hebei Province, many of which had been locked down due to outbreaks of coronavirus, are reopening as new infections continue to decline.

Life in low-risk areas in the cities of Shijiazhuang, Xingtai, and Langfang is returning to normal. Local residents told the Global Times that they are able to go to work and leave their communities, and shopping malls have reopened but are limiting the number of shoppers.

Hebei Province reported 19 new confirmed cases on Saturday, with 17 in Shijiazhuang and two from Xingtai, according to local health authorities. On Sunday, Shijiazhuang reported another five new cases. 

Some residents from Xingtai said that shopping malls are open as normal but the customer flow has been small. Checkpoints set up on main roads were dismantled but villages still have checkpoints to reduce the flow of visitors and returning migrant workers as Spring Festival approaches.

“My factory resumed production last week. All employees are able to come to the factory and work under strict anti-epidemic rules,” Yuanyuan, a tire factory manager based in Xingtai told the Global Times. 

Yuanyuan said locals are able to mail out delivery packages to other cities but cannot receive them, which has brought inconvenience to their production resumption.

The city of Langfang also gradually resumed traffic flow. Taxis and 125 bus routes have resumed operations. But the roads to Beijing and the urban area are still strictly managed. 

Vehicles that transport living materials can enter the urban area with a transportation pass and negative nucleic acid testing certificate.

Low-risk regions in Shijiazhuang including eight counties and two sub-districts also returned to normal on Saturday. 

In front of the Meiyuan shopping mall in Gaoyi county, lines of customers were seen as it is opened for business on Sunday. The shopping mall limited the total number of shoppers to 500 in order to ensure everyone has an area of 10 square meters.

However, medium- and high-risk regions in the province remained under strict management, including Shijiazhuang’s Gaocheng district and Xinle city, Nangong in Xingtai city, and Gu’an county in Langfang. 

The districts located in urban areas of Shijiazhuang are labelled medium-risk regions but they are also implementing restrictions in accordance to high-risk regions. Locals confirmed with the Global Times that they cannot leave their communities.