Some small business owners relayed to CNN their concern that any government assistance will likely arrive too late to save their small shops and restaurants, leading them to shut down for good.
Noticeably shuttered still are fitness centers and movie theaters, with no immediate plans to reopen.
Most the stores that have reopened have changed their business models. Major chains like Starbucks, McDonald's, Burger King, KFC and Pizza Hut are among the brands preventing customers from entering the physical space. Instead tables are setup at the storefronts and staff brings up the orders to hand off.
Roache said while manufacturing could recover reasonably quickly from the virus, it was the service sectors which appeared to be the slowest to return to 100% productivity. "This is important because service industries are the largest employers in most economies," he said.
Worst of all, some local citizens and business owners told CNN that they believed it was only a matter of time until a second wave of infections swept through the city, prompting a second lockdown and dealing another blow to the economy.
On Saturday, the day after the CNN team left, the Wuhan health authority reported that they had found
19 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases in the city.
There might be a long way to go yet for Wuhan and the rest of the world before we can return to anything resembling normality.
CNN's Ben Westcott contributed to this article.
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