Wuhan from 'ghost city' to a banquet with thousands of people 2
The crowded scene is not a suitable image of 2020, when Covid-19 is raging around the world, but it took place over the weekend in Wuhan city, capital of Hubei province, China, where it is believed
The image of thousands of people partying at Maya Beach water park in Wuhan is very different from the scene in January, when the city became the first place in the world to impose a blockade because of Covid-19.
People participate in games at a water park in Wuhan on August 15.
The city of 11 million people began to blockade on January 23, when nCoV killed 17 people and infected more than 400 people.
But by March, the blockade was gradually eased.
On April 8, the Wuhan blockade was officially lifted.
The streets of Wuhan are deserted after imposing a blockade in January. Photo: AFP.
However, on May 12, 6 new cases of nCoV infection were confirmed in Wuhan.
By June, night markets, which gathered many small stalls along the streets, were allowed to reopen in Wuhan.
Up to now, life is truly normal in Wuhan, as evidenced by the image of thousands of people attending a banquet at the water park.
Wuhan Happy Valley, an amusement park in Hongshan district, reopened on June 25, but park leaders said they only started welcoming many visitors this month.
People exercise to music on the banks of the Yangtze River, Wuhan, on August 4.
On Chinese social networks, some comments expressed surprise that such a large-scale event was allowed to take place in Wuhan.
But Wuhan people have reason to party, because they have not recorded any local infections in the city since mid-May and about 9.9 million residents have been tested for nCoV.
However, Sanjaya Senanayake, associate professor of infectious diseases at the Australian National University, said that even though the majority of the city’s residents were tested, there was still a risk of nCoV entering Wuhan from elsewhere.
`The problem is that we have not eradicated Covid-19 and as long as it exists, there is still the risk of it coming back, whether from elsewhere or from abroad,` Senanayake told the BBC.
He pointed out the example of New Zealand, a country once considered a model for fighting the epidemic, where community infections reappeared after 102 days of being `clean` of nCoV.
`So if you are gathering a lot of people, you really have to be careful. Even if one person has nCoV, you are still at risk,` Senanayake added.
Covid-19 is still raging in other countries, causing more than 22 million infections and more than 780,000 deaths.
Ngoc Anh (According to BBC)
