China is defending Wuhan’s apparent return to normalcy after photos emerged showing throngs of maskless people partying at a water park.
Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the novel coronavirus first emerged, has gone months without a reported case of COVID-19, and as much of the world remains locked down and hampered by virus restrictions, Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park held an electronic music festival with thousands of guests over the weekend.
The event sparked outrage among some, but the Chinese Communist Party-backed Global Times hailed the party as “payback” for its stringent restrictions.
“It’s not only a massive pool party. Wuhan, the city where COVID-19 was first reported and the one hit hardest by the virus, is now welcoming an influx of tourists, and its economy is reviving, which local residents believed should not only be seen as a sign of the city’s return to normalcy, but also a reminder to countries grappling with the virus that strict preventive measures have a payback,” an article from the outlet read.
Photos from the water park showed mask-free partygoers clad in bathing suits and crammed shoulder-to-shoulder inside the pools while music blasted. The park opened in June and has reportedly averaged about 15,000 guests per day on weekends.
VIDEO: ??Crowds packed out a water park over the weekend in the central Chinese city of #Wuhan, where the #coronavirus first emerged late last year, keen to party as the city edges back to normal life pic.twitter.com/sIrvzSFdin
— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 18, 2020
The Chinese newspaper acknowledged that the event at the water park “shocked some foreigners” but said that residents of Wuhan have cast derision about the return to normalcy as “sour grapes.”
“Tourism is also heating up across Wuhan and Hubei Province, after the region implemented a free-entry policy at many tourist attractions for domestic visitors on August 8,” the article read.
Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, and other parts of the Hubei province had completely shut down by the end of January as the health crisis began escalating. While there has been much doubt about the accuracy of Chinese coronavirus reporting, it claims to have had just under 90,000 confirmed cases and at least 4,704 deaths, a majority of which stemmed from the Hubei province.
