With over 22 million Covid-19 cases recorded all across the world, the pandemic has turned our lives upside down. Going out without a mask is frowned upon and gone are the times when we could attend concerts with thousands of people or line up in long queues to get into our favourite restaurants.
Undeniably, it’s always a horrifying moment when we see large crowds gathering with no physical distancing set in place, just like how photos of this pool party in Wuhan got us squirming in our seats.
Wuhan, China was the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak and it’s the location where it all started. After going through a 76-day lockdown in April, new cases have dropped and restrictions have been relaxed in the city.
But residents of Wuhan seem to think this means party time.
In an open-air water park for an electronic music festival which took place over the weekend, thousands of people gathered without any masks on or physical distancing measures in-sight. Partygoers filled Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park as they crammed together in the pool while dancing to the beat of the music while others relaxed on inflatable rubber tubes that packed the pool to the brim.
According to CNN, the Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park reopened in late June but the seasonal rain had discouraged many from visiting the park. Even though photos show the immense crowds of people gathered there, the number of visitors in August reached only half the number recorded in the same period last year.
Meanwhile in #Wuhan
pic.twitter.com/Jt69CrNzzy— Josh K. Elliott (@joshkelliott) August 17, 2020
As of now, the water park receives an average of 15,000 visitors during weekends and is offering half-price discounts to some.
This is understandably shocking as many parts of the world are still suffering the brunt of the outbreak that are infecting thousands of people daily, namely in the United States, Brazil, India and Indonesia.
While new cases in China has slowed down rapidly, with the country recording 84,871 cases, 79,642 recoveries and 4,634 deaths at the time of writing, we hope no new clusters would be detected from these weekly pool parties.
Also read: Tawar Cluster Found In Penang & Kedah Is The Largest Active Cluster In Malaysia