Shopping and dining out: Wuhan a year later
Couples go on dates, families dine out at restaurants, shoppers flock to stores. Face masks aside, people are going about their daily life pretty much as normal in the Chinese city that was first hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It's a remarkable turnaround for the 11 million residents of Wuhan, a city devastated by the coronavirus. The commercial hub on the mighty Yangtze river spent 76 days in lockdown last year, from January to April.
A dog rests as residents stand near meat hung out to dry in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Visitors wear masks as they visit the iconic Yellow Crane Tower, a popular tourist site in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
People wearing face masks walk down a deserted street in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province on Jan. 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Arek Rataj)
Medical workers treat patients in the isolated intensive care unit at a hospital in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. (Chinatopix via AP)
A worker walks among beds in a convention center that has been converted into a temporary hospital in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020. (Chinatopix via AP)
Overwhelmed hospitals sent the less seriously ill home, where they infected others. More than 3,800 people died, accounting for nearly 90% of the official coronavirus deaths in mainland China.
Today, some residents marvel that what was once considered the most dangerous place because of the pandemic may now be one of the safest. Bundled up against the winter cold, they walk briskly down a pedestrian-only shopping street that was a ghost town at the height of the outbreak.
Authorities remain on guard ahead of next month’s Lunar New Year holiday, when Chinese typically return to their hometowns for family gatherings. Even a World Health Organization team, which arrived from overseas this week to investigate the origins of the virus, is being made to quarantine for 14 days.
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, patients infected with the coronavirus take rest at a temporary hospital converted from Wuhan Sports Center in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province on Monday, Feb. 17, 2020. (Xiao Yijiu/Xinhua via AP)
A view from the iconic Yellow Crane Tower, a popular tourist site in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Children rings a bell as they visit the iconic Yellow Crane Tower, a popular tourist site in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
A resident wearing a mask past by a mural depicting idyllic home life in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Workers wearing masks at a jewelry shop waits for customers in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Visitors to a popular shopping street gather in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
A child attempts to throw sticks into a container to win prizes along a shopping street in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Workers in protective suits walk past the Hankou railway station on the eve of its resuming outbound traffic in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Tuesday, April 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
A man wearing a protective face mask covers himself with a plastic cover before entering a supermarket in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province, Monday, Feb. 10, 2020. (Chinatopix via AP)
A man wears a mask on the streets of Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Residents taking the ferry stand near a Chinese national flag in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
A woman wearing a mask visits the iconic Yellow Crane Tower, a popular tourist site in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
A man wearing a mask is silhouetted as the sun sets along the riverbank in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Text from AP News story, AP PHOTOS: Shopping and dining out: Wuhan a year later
Photos by Ng Han Guan