Every year, on Aug. 25, China celebrates the Qixi Festival, the nation’s equivalent of Valentine’s Day. Rooted in a mythical romance between an oxherd and weaver girl, it’s when romance blooms and gooey-eyed sweethearts exchange overpriced trinkets.
Wuhan Strives To Return To Normal. But Scars From The COVID-19 Pandemic Run Deep (by Charlie Campbell/TIME)
No new cases are reported in Wuhan 8 months after the COVID-19 pandemic started. The city marked this year’s Qixi Festival, China’s equivalent to Valentine’s Day, with more joy than usual. Wuhan resident Ding Hui and her friends held a party for the first time since she recovered from the virus.
“Wuhan feels like a severely injured child still slowly recovering,” said Ding as she recounts her experience of being treated in an intensive care unit and talks about her family and marriage.
The coronavirus pandemic continues to rampage across every continent with 25 million cases globally. On Thursday, India set a world record for daily infections with 83,883 new cases. Yet in China, where the novel coronavirus was first recorded at a Wuhan wet market, the outbreak is beginning to feel like old news. On Wednesday, the world’s most populous nation reported just 11 new cases, all of them imported.
Read More: Wuhan Strives to Return to Normal
