Thousands of people gathered in central Wuhan this evening to count down the start of a new year that many hope will be a much better one after a “harsh” 2022 full of lockdowns and a new outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in December.
Many released balloons into the sky when the clocks struck midnight, following a tradition in the central Chinese city where the pandemic began three years ago, and many took selfies with their friends.
“Last year, I felt that Covid-19 was very serious and some of my family members were hospitalized,” Wang, a 17-year-old high school student in Wuhan, told Reuters from the riverbank shortly after midnight.
“I hope they are healthy in the new year. That’s the most important thing.”
Some went to celebrate in fancy dress and almost everyone in attendance wore masks as the country sees a wave of cases of the disease accelerate after the lifting of restrictions that has since infected large sections of the population with deaths now estimated at 9,000 a day according to the British medical data company Airfinity.
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Source: News Beast
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