“We have the right to enjoy”: thousands in Wuhan celebrate the New Year on the streets

Wuhan, China – A couple walked down an utterly busy pedestrian street and couldn’t believe it: Wuhan, the city where the first case of COVID-19 was known and the one who experienced the first major lockdown to end the pandemic, celebrated the arrival of the new en masse years, almost as if nothing had happened.

From the early afternoon, floods of people crowded the city’s 11 million subway to reach Jianghan Pedestrian Street, the scene of an agglomeration that surprised residents themselves.

“I haven’t seen so many people together for years, it’s very exciting to see Wuhan like this,” said young Yao, who walked along that commercial road with his girlfriend, where there were lines to enter shops and restaurants.

Most were young people with no fear of contamination — Wuhan added his latest case of COVID-19 via local transmission in mid-May — and “looking to make up for lost time,” added the smiling girl Wu, dressed in rabbit ears. false.

Crowd countdown

There are those who, like Leng, a university student, wanted to clarify that the already recovered Wuhan did not want to rub the images of the mass celebrations on the faces of those still suffering from the pandemic: “Just because we can go out today to celebrate doesn’t mean we don’t have compassion for the rest.”

Leng was one of thousands of citizens who flocked to central Jianghan Square to meet in front of the Hankou Building clock and participate in the countdown to the end of 2020.

“We have the right to enjoy,” added the young man, who, despite the normal course of events, is still aware of the havoc caused by COVID-19 or the strict confinement of the city, which began at the end of January and Lasted 11 weeks. “If you told me at the end of February that we would be like this today, I wouldn’t believe it,” he said.

Five, four, three, two, one … the thousands of people gathered in the square counted every second expectantly and loudly before midnight arrived.

Then, attendees congratulated each other, releasing thousands of balloons of different shapes and colors – most of them hearts – at once to welcome 2021 and leave the fateful 2020 behind.

Sold out in night clubs

After the “bells”, the Wuhan hugged and took selfies to share on social media. For some it was the end of the night, but for others the revelry had just begun: some clubs were already sold out.

In the lavish club, Han kept coming and going non-stop in the huge rooms, where hundreds of people danced – some with masks, others without – to the beat of pounding electronic music late into the night.

In other bars there was a rumble of those shouting in the karaoke, but “at least they provide shelter for everyone who isn’t going home now,” said another young man, laughing, who believes this year’s celebrations were necessary.

“I know they have been banned in many places this year. All our solidarity. But many sacrifices have been made here. The country has practically closed its borders. There is nothing for it but accept that your movements are being tracked. It is intended to prevent contamination. And here was the incarceration … you couldn’t leave town, ”he said.

And he added that his impression is that “preventive measures against COVID-19 are not being enforced as strictly as in China in other countries.”

A far cry is last January, when Wuhan recorded dozens of cases daily of a “mysterious pneumonia” that, according to official statistics, would cause 3,869 deaths in the city.

To prevent further infestation of COVID-19, authorities imposed an unprecedented and strict detention on January 23 that lasted 11 weeks.

According to its residents, it was the only possible measure to prevent COIVID-19 from continuing to devastate, but they don’t forget the confusion of the first days, when little information was available about the disease, the food supply or medical supplies.

Management of the outbreak in the early stages has been the subject of controversy, and Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang himself acknowledged that it took his government too long to make available information about the outbreak public, as he said they needed approval from higher authorities to make it public.

Beyond the strict quarantine, Wuhan managed to turn the situation around thanks to vigorous preventive measures, the arrival of health workers from other Chinese provinces or the rapid construction of hospitals such as Leishenshan, which began receiving patients in February 2020.