Wuhan hosts massive batch of water park as coronavirus affects

08/18/2020 Health, World


Now, the central Chinese city of Wuhan appears to have been overwhelmed by the virus, as thousands of revelers gathered in an open-air water park for an electronic music festival – with no masks or social distance measures in sight.

Over the weekend, the Wuhan Maya Beach water park was filled with partygoers in swimsuit colored shoulder to shoulder, waving to the kiss of the music as they cooled off in hip water; others relaxed on inflatable rubber tubes that gripped the pool at the edge, with not much space to float around.

The crowded party scene remains unthinkable in many parts of the world that are still struggling with the deadly virus. More than 21 million people worldwide are infected, with tens of thousands of new cases being reported daily in the United States, Brazil and India.

But in Wuhan, life is slowly returning to normal since the 11-million-strong metropolitan area of ​​Hubei province lifted a severe 76-day strike in April. The city has not reported any new cases since mid-May.
Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park reopened in late June, but more than a month of seasonal rain had discouraged crowds from running out. The number of visitors at the beginning of August was just half the level in the same period last year, according to Hubei Daily, a provincial newspaper of the Communist Party mouth, and named a manager at the park.

Currently, the water park receives an average of 15,000 daily visitors over the weekend, offering discounts for half the price to some visitors, Hubei Daily reported.

An artist entertains the crowd at Wuhan's Maya Beach Water Park.

Original epicenter

The novel coronavirus was first discovered in Wuhan in December last year. As the original epicenter of the outbreak, infections in the city account for nearly 60% of the more than 84,000 total confirmed cases in China, according to data from the National National Commission of Hubei Provincial Health Commission.

China to lift lockdown on Wuhan, ground zero coronavirus pandemic

On January 23, Wuhan was locked out of the outside world in an unusual state-locked lockdown to contain the rapidly spreading virus. All flights, trains and buses were canceled and highway entrances were blocked. Public transportation in the city was shut down, and residents were forbidden to leave their municipalities – even for groceries.

Other cities in Hubei Province soon followed suit, adopting similar restrictions.

The sweeping measures, which have affected more than 60 million Hubei residents, have been carried out in China as if they had helped the country turn a corner in its fight against the outbreak. In a major show of confidence, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan on March 10, three months after the outbreak was first discovered in the city.
But the virus made a brief comeback in mid-May, when six new cases were discovered in a residential neighborhood in the city. Municipal authorities are rolling out an ambitious stationary nucleic acid test, which saw more than 6.5 million tests performed in just nine days, according to state media.

CNN’s Shawn Deng in Beijing has contributed to reporting.

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