Coronavirus: Photos show transformation of China’s original virus epicentre

Thousands of partygoers have been snapped crammed into a water park for an enormous music festival. And no, this isn’t in the United States.

Thousands of people have been snapped crammed into a water park for an enormous summer pool party.

They’re seen standing shoulder-to-shoulder, and sharing small inflatable rafts as they watch DJs and performers onstage.

It’s hard to think this is the same Wuhan that was just in lockdown. Picture: STR/AFP

People watch a performance as they cool off in a swimming pool in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province. Picture: STR/AFP

The Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park was filled with partygoers over the weekend as it hosted an electronic music festival, with little sign of social distancing or mask-wearing. Picture: STR/AFP

The Wuhan water park reopened in June after the city gradually lifted a 76-day lockdown. Picture: STR/AFP

No, this isn’t another reckless party in virus-ravaged Florida, or Sao Paulo.

It’s Wuhan, China – the original epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park was filled with partygoers over the weekend as it hosted an electronic music festival, with little sign of social distancing or mask-wearing.

It’s a sign of how far the city has come with the pandemic. Just for comparison, here are photos from the streets of Wuhan in February, just a few weeks after it was forced into lockdown on January 23:

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This is Wuhan, Hubei province, in February. (Photo by Stringer/Getty Images)

Wuhan’s 11 million residents went into lockdown from January 23. (Photo by STR / AFP) / China OUT

The Wuhan water park reopened in June after the city gradually lifted a 76-day lockdown.

Local media said the park had capped attendance at 50 per cent of its normal capacity, though it still prompted a massive turnout.

It comes after tens of thousands of domestic Chinese tourists flocked to Wuhan following the pandemic, after officials made several tourist attractions there free to enter.

The first known cases of COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan late last year, before the virus spread across the world.

The city lifted its lockdown in April, and there have been no new domestically transmitted cases officially reported in Hubei province, in three months.

But sporadic outbreaks have occurred in other parts of the country, including Xinjiang in the northwest and Dalian in the northeast.

China has recorded 89,421 cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 4703 deaths, although experts have long disputed the accuracy of the Chinese government’s figures.