Wuhan crowds form for New Year’s Eve a year after Covid was detected

Crowds of people gathered in Wuhan tonight to celebrate New Year’s Eve exactly one year after the coronavirus was discovered in the city.

Images from the city, which has not reported a locally transmitted Covid case since May, showed people carrying balloons and wearing face masks as seen in 2021 on the streets.

The city’s Philharmonic Orchestra gave a concert, while revelers were also able to attend a cyberpunk electronics festival or watch a light show along the Yangtze River, which runs through the area.

Several people were seen heading to the nightclubs, which have been open since September, for a night of drinking and dancing.

Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province, first reported a cluster of Covid-19 cases on December 31, 2019, and the World Health Organization (WHO) established an IMST (Support Team for incident management) on New Years Day.

The city abruptly closed its 11 million residents on January 23 and emerged 76 days later in April. The first infection outside of China was registered in Thailand on January 13.

Records indicate that around 4,500 people have died from the virus in Hubei, while more than 1.8 million have died worldwide, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

As of Wednesday, China has reported a total of 87,027 confirmed coronavirus infections, 356 of which are active, while the nation’s death toll stands at 4,634.

Most areas of China enjoyed a mild New Year’s Eve tonight, with large events and fireworks displays canceled in an attempt to disperse the crowds. Beijing and Shenyang have seen small outbreaks of Covid in recent weeks.

Shanghai Disneyland went ahead with a planned fireworks display, but Beijing and Guangzhou canceled their annual light shows.

China will also celebrate the Chinese New Year, which is considered a major holiday in the nation, on February 12.

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