Pictures and video of the weekend electronic music party in Wuhan -- where COVID-19 first emerged in December 2019 -- have gone viral, attracting a huge negative response in places where lockdowns are still in effect.
The headline "Life's a beach in Wuhan as world pays virus price" -- splashed across the front page of Australia's Daily Telegraph -- was typical of some mainstream news headlines, while comments on social media sites were more colourfully frank.AFP's video of the event has been viewed more than 16 million times since it was posted.
One Twitter user called the event "incredibly irresponsible", while another suggested there was "no way" it would not lead to more cases of coronavirus.But China said Thursday the pool party showed the city's "strategic victory" against the outbreak, and said the images were proof the country's approach to controlling the virus had been successful.
"I saw relevant reports by AFP, and it is said that people in Europe and America were very shocked," foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a press briefing.China has come under fire from around the world since the outbreak of the virus, which has infected over 22 million people and killed nearly 800,000.Zhao called on the media to "report the real situation in China" so people abroad could understand the country's fight against the epidemic.
Wuhan has not reported any new virus cases in months after undergoing a draconian lockdown and strict restrictions earlier this year.
China is more sophisticated than the West. And they have waaaaaay more money than the whole of EU
If China's not social distancing, does that not tell you Sheep anything......
So stupid.
Not only China but also the WHO supported the party!
If our leaders had handled the pandemic properly, we'd be having pool parties by now
Because it's fake
Thanks for the daily dose of recreational outrage. We have a lot to worry about in our own country now.
Wuhan broth
One of the most recent known mass cannibalism incidents in human history was during the Chinese Cultural Revolution in 1968 when Mao's Red Guards in Guangxi slaughtered and then reportedly ate over one hundred people accused of capitalism and crimes against communism
We all know the plannedemic was released by China in an attempt to hurt Trump. Watch it backfire 😂
Justin agrees