Chinese state media has defended a party which saw thousands of people pack out a water park in Wuhan, calling the festivities payback and condemning critics as ‘sour grapes’.
Pictures showed Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park being jam-packed by mask-free revellers as they stood shoulder to shoulder in water over the weekend despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Global Times, an English-language newspaper backed by the Chinese Communist Party, has hit back at critics who saw the party as a slap in the face to the rest of the world.
The paper championed the testing of its nearly 11 million residents in Wuhan and the city’s strict lockdown measures, saying the massive pool party was ‘payback’.
Chinese state media have defended a party which say thousands of people pack out a water park in Wuhan on Saturday as the former coronavirus ground zero edged back to normal life
Global Times, an English-language newspaper backed by the Chinese Communist Party, has hit back at critics who saw the party (pictured) as a slap in the face to the rest of the world
The park – which local media says has capped attendance at 50 percent of normal capacity – is offering half price discounts for female visitors. A performer on a stage at the front of the water waves at the crowd at the Wuhan park on the weekend
Its story, ‘Wuhan’s after-pandemic pool party sends a message to world: strict anti-virus measures have a payback’, was published on Tuesday.
The story read: ‘Wuhan, the city where COVID-19 was first reported and the one hit hardest by the virus, is now welcoming an influx of tourists, and its economy is reviving, which local residents believed should not only be seen as a sign of the city’s return to normalcy, but also a reminder to countries grappling with the virus that strict preventive measures have a payback.’
Global Times said the park took measures to protect visitors’ and employees’ safety, including temperature tests and disinfection, and capped the number of entrants to half of the pre-pandemic era.
The outdoor amusement park reopened in June after Wuhan gradually lifted a 76-day lockdown and strict restrictions to try and control the spread of the virus.
The outdoor amusement park reopened in June after Wuhan gradually lifted a 76-day lockdown and strict restrictions to try and control the spread of the virus. Thousands of partygoers are pictured packing out the Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park
Pictures reveal the popular Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park being jam-packed by mask-free revellers as they stand shoulder to shoulder in water over the weekend despite the pandemic. None of the visitors at the park are seen to be wearing masks
The park – which local media says has capped attendance at 50 percent of normal capacity – is offering half price discounts for female visitors.
A performer in a stage show at the front of the water waved at the crowd, packed close and waving their arms back, some snapping photos on phones protected in plastic pouches round their necks.
Another performer on a water jet board entertained his audience by hovering above them with sparks shooting from his back.
Some of the crowd had donned life jackets, but none of the tightly-packed partygoers were seen to be wearing face masks as a DJ in bright yellow headphones played on stage.
Other images see visitors smashing a giant block of ice with hammers or scrambling to pick up watermelon balloons during group games offered at the water park.
The outdoor amusement park reopened in June after Wuhan gradually lifted a 76-day lockdown and strict restrictions to try and control the spread of the virus. A performer on a water jet board entertained his audience by hovering above them
The park – which local media says has capped attendance at 50 percent of normal capacity – is offering half price discounts for female visitors. Visitors are pictured playing a group game as they smashed a giant block of ice with hammers together
It comes after tens of thousands of Chinese visitors have swarmed to tourist attractions across Wuhan despite the global pandemic after officials made dozens of them free to enter. The picture taken on Saturday shows a group of visitors scrambling to pick up watermelon balloons in the water during group games offered at the water park in the city of Wuhan
It comes after tens of thousands of Chinese visitors have swarmed to tourist attractions across Wuhan despite the global pandemic after officials made dozens of them free to enter.
Earlier this month, the provincial government of Hubei has offered citizens free entries to visit over 20 tourism destinations in the former coronavirus epicentre.
Social media footage shows large crowds of people standing together closely as they queue outside local scenic spots. Some even ditched wearing face masks.
China appeared to have largely brought the coronavirus outbreak under control through a series of lockdowns and restrictions.
But the country has recently seen a new spike of infections in the north-western province of Xinjiang and the north-eastern city of Dalian. Both regions have used draconian measures to fight the disease.
Earlier this month, the provincial government of Hubei has offered citizens free entries to visit over 20 tourism destinations in the former coronavirus epicentre. The picture shows people at a large swimming pool as they enjoy the weekend at the park
China appeared to have largely brought the coronavirus outbreak under control through a series of lockdowns and restrictions. Thousands of Chinese partygoers have packed out the Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park as the former coronavirus ground zero edges back to normal life. The picture shows a Chinese man and a child playing at the park’s pool on Saturday
The first known cases of COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan late last year, a city of 11 million people, before the virus spread across the world, killing hundreds of thousands and crippling economies.
The lockdown was lifted in April, and there have been no new domestically transmitted cases officially reported in Hubei province, where Wuhan is the capital, since mid-May.
To try and boost the local economy, the Hubei government has been offering free entry to 400 tourist sites across the province.
China has largely brought its domestic epidemic under control, but sporadic outbreaks and a summer of severe flooding have exacerbated the economic fallout.