Thousands pack water park in Wuhan, China, the once-epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic

New images show thousands of people crammed shoulder to shoulder at a massive pool party over the weekend in Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus is thought to have first emerged late last year. 

Large crowds packed the Wuhan Playa Maya Water Park for an electronic music festival on Saturday, according to the Agence France-Presse (AFP). 

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Partygoers can be seen standing and swimming in close quarters to one another without the usual mask and social distancing measures meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus as they watched the performance. 

The images stand in stark contrast to the strict lockdown that was once imposed on the central Hubei province city in January when the coronavirus outbreak first began spiraling out of control, which locked down Wuhan’s 11 million residents. 

All public transport was suspended and movement outside homes was restricted. The lockdown was lifted in April, around the time the virus began tearing through western Europe and the U.S. 

There have been no new domestically transmitted cases officially reported in Hubei province, where Wuhan is the capital, since May according to AFP. More than 68,000 cases have been confirmed in Hubei province with more than 4,500 deaths.

But some have cast doubt on the actual number of coronavirus cases and deaths in China due to the authoritarian nature of the country. China has tallied more than 84,000 cases with a total of 4,634 deaths.