In China\, thousands party shoulder-to-shoulder at Wuhan’s water park without masks

In China, thousands party shoulder-to-shoulder at Wuhan’s water park without masks

In Wuhan, life has returned to normalcy as the city which houses 11 million people lifted a strictly enforced its lockdown that lasted for 76 days. The Hubei capital hasn't reported any new cases since mid-May.

By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: August 20, 2020 9:39:58 am
As Covid-19 diminishes, China's Wuhan hosts huge water party to celebrateThe authorities have been complacent about enforcing any social distancing  measures in the party and CNN stated that the party-goers have been seen attending the event without wearing masks. (Getty Images)

China’s Wuhan city, which was ground zero of the coronavirus pandemic, witnessed a massive electronic music festival that took place in an open air water park with thousands of revelers dancing in waves to the beats of the music with no social distancing and no masks, reported CNN.

The Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park was tightly packed over the weekend with “partygoers in swimsuits bunched together shoulder to shoulder, waving to the beat of the music while cooling down in hip-high water; others relaxed on inflatable rubber tubes that packed the pool to the brim, with little space to float around,” the American news broadcaster was quoted as saying.

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CNN reported that the Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park reopened in late June, but more than a month of seasonal rain had discouraged crowds from turning out. Hubei Daily, a provincial Communist Party mouthpiece newspaper, cited a manager at the park as saying that the number of visitors in early August only accounted for half of the level in the same period last year.

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In Wuhan, life has returned to normalcy as the city which houses 11 million people lifted a strictly enforced its lockdown that lasted for 76 days. The Hubei capital hasn’t reported any new cases since mid-May. The last three coronavirus patients in Wuhan were  discharged on June 5 and the central Chinese city has recorded zero cases of the virus since then after mass testing of about 10 million people, state media had reported.

A study carried out by researchers from the Harvard Medical School, Boston University of Public Health and Boston children’s hospital used satellite imagery of parking lots and disease-related search engine queries to investigate the possibility that coronavirus may have been circulating in Wuhan since August last year.

Covid-19 was first detected in Wuhan in December last year and is believed to have emerged in a wet market that sold seafood and wildlife in the central Chinese city.

As the original epicenter of the outbreak, infections in the city account for nearly 60 per cent of the more than 84,000 total confirmed cases across China, according to data from the country’s National Health Commission and Hubei Provincial Health Commission.