Disappearing Act

As the global health disaster has intensified, sparking tension between Beijing and Washington, the birthplace of the virus has since disappeared by behind the temporary blue-and-white wall, and an inner curtain of black sheeting.

Mentions of the site have likewise disappeared from government epidemic discourse and official media reports, as some Chinese officials have pushed a new narrative that the virus might not have originated in the market, while offering no evidence.

After a more than two-month lockdown to contain the virus, in which citizens of Wuhan and the rest of Hubei province were confined to their homes, life is inching back toward normality.

Border controls are loosening, allowing residents who were stranded outside the province — as well as foreign journalists — to begin re-entering in recent days.

But the market’s fate seems sealed.

For weeks, crews have carefully disinfected and then removed all of its merchandise and other contents, followed by further rounds of disinfecting the entire site, according to state media reports.