Wuhan celebrated party in this co-vid pandemic with any safety measures !

 

Wuhan coronavirus: From silent streets to packed pools

Thousands of people packed shoulder-to-shoulder with no face masks in sight, frolicking on rubber floats and cheering along to a music festival.

It's not a very 2020 image, but it was the scene this weekend in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where Covid-19 first emerged late last year.

Pictures of partygoers at the Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park - looking very much removed from the outbreak that the rest of the world continues to battle - have now gone, well, viral.

It's worlds apart from the images that came out of Wuhan when it had the world's first Covid-19 lockdown in January - a ghost town devoid of residents and vehicles.

The lockdown was lifted in April and there have been no domestically transmitted cases in Wuhan or Hubei province since mid-May.

A slow return to normal

Wuhan went into a then unprecedented lockdown on 23 January - at a time where the virus had killed 17 people and affected more than 400.

It was a week after China confirmed that human-to-human transmission of the virus had taken place, something not previously proven.

The city of 11 million people was entirely cut off from the rest of China, as thousands of people were over the next few months tested and placed in quarantine. All large public gatherings were cancelled and people told to avoid gathering.

By March , the lockdown slowly started to ease.

One resident from each household was allowed to leave their residential compound for a maximum of two hours.

Shopping malls began re-opening, public transport started to run and people slowly started heading out - though social distancing was still in place and masks had to be worn.

• What did China do when the outbreak emerged?
• Diary of a life in locked-down Wuhan
• A dazed city emerges from the harshest of lockdowns

On 8 April, Wuhan's lockdown was officially lifted.

Couples rushed to get married, after having their plans put on hold for months

.For a while it seemed like life was getting back to normal as schools re-opened, businesses slowly emerged and public transport resumed operations.

But on 12 May , six new virus cases were recorded. The city quickly put in place ambitious plans to test its entire population of 11 million people. The outbreak was soon brought under control.

• Did China test a whole city in 10 days?

By June , night markets - which see street stalls set up along small streets - were allowed to re-open.

And a month later, in July, life truly started to go back to normal in most parts of China. Cinemas in most places were allowed to re-open, certain parks, libraries, museums were also allowed to open at half capacity and larger gatherings were given permission to take place.