Has China really beaten Covid?

It has to be seen to be believed: a pool party attended by thousands, with the young bodies packed so tightly that you could barely see the water. There was a DJ, neon lights and outlandish acrobatics from performers on water jetpacks. The scenes, captured on video and sent around the world, were all the more extraordinary because the party was in Wuhan.

It wasn’t long ago that the same people were locked down in their millions. They were not even allowed to go outside for exercise. The only people you would see on the streets were the kuaidi xiaoge (‘delivery bros’), gig economy workers who dropped off groceries, medicines and everything in between.

Yet now in August, it’s westerners who are still obsessed with social distancing and the Wuhanese who are having pool parties. The state-run Global Times boasted about the city’s revival. The rave ‘serves as a reminder to countries grappling with the virus: strict preventive measures have a payback’.