Wuhan’s dancing coronavirus patients provide moment of light relief for Chinese looking to keep their spirits up
- State media highlights widely circulated clip from makeshift hospital as ‘amazing example’ of how people are trying to stay positive
- Footage proves popular on social media, but some web users remind people not to overlook problems such as shortages of equipment and poor hygiene
While the city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, has struggled to overcome medical shortages and poor quarantine conditions, Chinese state media has been keen to highlight moments of gaiety in the bleak situation.
On Tuesday, state-run People’s Daily published a video that had been widely circulated on social media showing a group of mask-wearing patients at an unidentified makeshift hospital in the city trying to lift their spirits by square dancing – a popular pastime among older Chinese women.
“This is the most amazing square-dancing ever seen!” the Communist Party mouthpiece wrote on its Weibo account.
“Paired with medical treatment, maintaining a good mentality will allow you all to quickly recover. Wuhan, add oil!”
The clips had also been shared by state broadcaster CCTV the previous day.
On Weibo, the hashtag topic “they are all square dancing in makeshift hospitals”, had reached more than 33.3 million views as of Tuesday afternoon.
The coronavirus first broke out in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, last December and has since resulted in more than 42,000 confirmed cases across the country and more than 1,000 deaths.
Most cases have been reported inside Hubei, but it has spread to more than two dozen other countries.
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In an effort to contain the virus, Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, has been in lock-down over the past three weeks, with the government vowing to tighten measures even further to ensure every confirmed and suspected individual is quarantined and treated.
But concerns over shortages of medical supplies and workers, conditions in the mass quarantine centres and suspicions of government cover-ups remain.
Some on social media shared the clips of dancing patients and medical workers with supportive messages, but others reminded web users not to forget the pressing problems at the makeshift medical facilities.
“We need to improve the hygiene situation at the makeshift hospitals and reduce the pressure on the medical staffers,” one user wrote.
“But should they just wait to die? Maintaining a positive mentality is also good,” another wrote.
One of the city’s makeshift hospitals, set up in a cultural centre in Dongxihu, is now planning to hold square dances for patients twice a day, according to the Shanghai-based news portal Thepaper.cn.
Zhou Junhui, head nurse at Wuhan University’s Zhongnan hospital, which manages the makeshift hospital, was quoted as saying: “The patients are under quarantine, so [the nurse] led this dance half an hour after dinner to raise their spirits, improve their immunity and benefit their recovery.”
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Medical experts earlier warned that healthy individuals should avoid mass outdoor gatherings, including group dances.
Zhan Qingyuan, chief of infectious diseases at China-Japan Friendship Hospital, said at a press conference at the end of January that people should avoid square dancing.
“Dancing itself increases the risk of cross infections,” he said. “It will use a lot of one’s oxygen, and one will suffocate if wearing a mask while dancing.
