Photo: A policeman stands by a train about to depart from the Hankou Railway Station in Wuhan. Photo: Aly Song/ Reuters

Wuhan, the original epicentre of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, has allowed its residents to travel in and out of the city for the first time since it was placed under lockdown around 11 weeks ago.

The Chinese city’s 11 million residents can now leave without special authorisation as long as they have a ‘green code’ on a smartphone app which shows they are healthy.

Chinese state media has published footage of nearly 100 high-speed trains ready to depart. Meanwhile, highway roadblocks have been removed and around 200 flights are scheduled to leave Wuhan today, carrying some 10,000 passengers.

The occasion was marked with a light show on either side of the Yangtze river, with skyscrapers and bridges lit up with words such as ‘Hello Wuhan’ and ‘heroic city’, a title recently given to Wuhan by Chinese president Xi Jinping.