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

Wuhan, China – A couple was walking along a completely crowded pedestrian street and gave no credit: Wuhan, the city where the first case of COVID-19 was known and the one that experienced the first major confinement to curb the pandemic, celebrated en masse the arrival of the new year, almost as if nothing had happened.

From the early afternoon, floods of people crowded the city’s 11-million-meter subway to reach the pedestrian street of Jianghan, the scene of a crowd that surprised the 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 was walking with his girlfriend along this trade route, where queues were seen to enter shops and restaurants. .

Most were young people without fear of infection – Wuhan added his latest COVID-19 case for local transmission in mid-May – and “looking forward to making up for lost time,” added the smiling girl, Wu, dressed in ears. of rabbit hairpieces.

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 crowded celebrations on the faces of those who still suffer from the pandemic: “That we can take to the streets today to celebrate doesn’t mean we don’t stand in solidarity with the rest.”

Leng was one of thousands of citizens who flocked to downtown Jianghan Square to gather in front of the clock in the Hankou Building and participate in the countdown that ended 2020.

“We have the right to enjoy,” added the young man, who despite the normality of the day still has in mind the havoc caused by the COVID-19 or the strict confinement of the city, which began in late January and it lasted for 11 weeks: “If you told me in late February that we would be like this today, I wouldn’t believe it,” she recounted.

Five, four, three, two, one … the thousands of people gathered in the square were expectant and loud every second before midnight arrived.

Then, attendees congratulated themselves and released in unison thousands of balloons with different shapes and colors – most of them hearts – to welcome 2021 and leave behind the disastrous 2020.

Tickets sold out at nightclubs

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

In the lavish Han club, people kept coming and going non-stop in its huge halls, in which hundreds of people danced – some with masks, others without – to the sound of insistent electronic music until well entrance at night.

In other bars they suffered the snarls of those who scribbled in karaokes, but “at least they give refuge to anyone who refuses to go home,” said another young man with a laugh. who believes this year’s celebrations were necessary.

“I know that this year they have been banned in many places. All our solidarity. But many sacrifices have been made here. The country has practically closed its borders. There is no choice but to accept that your movements are being tracked down. it means that to avoid contagion. And here the confinement was … you couldn’t even leave the city, “he said.

And he added that his impression is that “in other countries preventive measures against COVID-19 have not been implemented as strictly as in China.”

Gone are January last year, when Wuhan recorded dozens of daily cases of a “mysterious pneumonia” that would eventually cause 3,869 deaths in the city, according to official statistics.

To prevent COVID-19 from continuing to wreak havoc, the authorities imposed an unprecedented and strict confinement on January 23 that lasted 11 weeks.

According to its inhabitants, it was the only possible measure to prevent COIVID-19 from continuing to wreak havoc, but do not forget the confusion of the early days, when information was barely available about the disease, food supply or medical supplies.

The outbreak management in its early stages has been the subject of controversy, and Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang himself acknowledged that his government took too long to disclose available information about the outbreak, due, he said. , to the fact that they needed the approval of higher instances to make it public.

In addition to its strict quarantine, Wuhan managed to reverse the situation thanks to strong prevention measures, the arrival of health personnel from other Chinese provinces or the express construction of hospitals such as Leishenshan, which began to receive patients in February 2020.