(Yicai Global) March. 3 -- Wuhan, the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak, has ordered the operator of Alibaba-backed Hellobike to remove its latest batch of illegal bikes from the streets of the Central Chinese city today.

Wuhan's traffic authorities have told an executive of Junzheng Network Technology that if the Shanghai-based shared bikes firm does not clean up 1,000 unregistered two-wheelers from the streets today, it will be punished, The Paper reported today.

The city under lockdown has been hit the hardest by the spread of Covid-19, making up nearly 80 percent of the 2,947 deaths in China. But that doesn't mean that the city's administration has loosened its grip on matters beyond epidemic control.

Last year, Wuhan handed Hellobike a CNY45,000 (USD6,445) fine due to illegal bikes scattered around the city. The municipality has tidied up its streets in the past couple of years by halving the number of shared bicycles to 580,000.

Editor: Emmi Laine