New Delhi: On May 1st, thousands attended the Wuhan Music Festival. People were screaming & dancing since the festival was making a return in Wuhan after it was forced to be online only last year due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Wuhan in central China is believed to be place where the novel Coronavirus originated from.
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While speaking to Reuters, a representative for the organisers said that numbers were being restricted this year, adding that around 11,000 people were there on Saturday. Barriers were set up in front of each stage and security personnel restricted numbers in those areas. Some spectators wore masks, but many did not.
Wuhan was where the virus first emerged and the city also saw the world's first Covid lockdown. Since then the city has been almost completely virus-free, according to official data. In recent months the country has only reported a few sporadic outbreaks the fear of the virus is mostly erased.
"Last year we (in Wuhan) suffered from the coronavirus", a 23-year-old student and Wuhan resident Gao Yuchen was quoted as saying. Adding, "It has not been easy to get to where we are today. People here have put in huge efforts and paid a big price (for being hit with the virus). So I feel very excited to be here (at the festival)".
Wuhan music festival brings together different artists, across three stages in Wuhan's Garden Expo park during the two-day event.
Similarly, "Strawberry Music Festival" are being held in other cities, including Beijing, during the national holiday. Attendees came to Wuhan from all over the country, like 29-year-old Zhang Hongkai, from Shijiazhuang in Hebei province.
All the new cases were imported infections originating overseas, the National Health Commission said in a statement according to the report. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in mainland China now stands at about 90,671, while the death toll is at 4,636, many of whom were Wuhan residents.