Coronavirus: Wuhan’s clubbers back in business a year after lockdown

Partygoers in the central China city where Covid-19 was first identified are happy to be back on the dance floor

‘I was stuck inside for two or three months … the country fought the virus very well, and now I can go out in complete tranquillity,’ clubber says

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Face masks are obligatory at the door of Wuhan’s nightclubs but people take them off to chat with friends, dance or smoke. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:00pm, 23 Jan 2021Updated: 6:58am, 28 Jan 2021

Glow-in-the-dark rabbit ears, pulsating beats and a flexible attitude to masks: nightlife in Wuhan is back with a vengeance a year after a lockdown brought life to a standstill in the central China city of 11 million.

As the rest of the world continues to grapple with lockdowns and soaring infections, young people in the city, once the epicentre of the coronavirus, are enjoying their hard-earned freedom.

In Super Monkey – a huge nightclub in the city centre – there is no dress code or VIP list. What is obligatory, at least to get through the door, is a mask and a temperature check – any higher than 37.3 degrees Celsius and bouncers can turn people away.

Young people in Wuhan are enjoying their hard-earned freedom. Photo: AFP

Inside, where clubbers let loose on the dance floor amid the deafening sound of techno and a blinding laser show, the rules are not always so strictly followed.

While masks are obligatory at the door, DJs and partygoers take them off to chat with friends, dance or smoke.