Streets packed for New Year's Eve in China's Wuhan, once the epicenter of coronavirus

Large crowds filled the streets for New Year’s Eve  in the Chinese city of Wuhan – which roughly one year ago was the epicenter for the novel coronavirus that has killed an estimated 1.8 million people worldwide. 

Leaders of the Chinese Communist Party faced intense criticism for what much of the world believes to have been leaders’ failure to promptly and fully disclose the start of the virus, purportedly from a resident eating a bat at bought at a Wuhan street market. 

However, officials swiftly enacted strict health safety measures – including a lockdown in Wuhan from January to early April – that helped control the spread of the virus.

China has reported a total 87,027 virus cases and 4,634 deaths, with Wuhan accounting for almost 60% of all cases and over 80% of the total deaths, according to ABC News.  

On New Year’s Eve, as per tradition, hundreds gathered in front of the old Hankow Customs House building, one of the city's more popular spots to celebrate an incoming year, according to Reuters. 

"I'm so so so incredibly happy," Yang Wenxuan, a 20-year-old student and tourist, told the wire service. "This is my first time in Wuhan. But it (the countdown) was so spectacular."

Balloons filled the sky at midnight, but the event was not completely like it has been in years past, with revelers required to wear masks, an order enforced by a strong police presence. 

The festivities came 12 months after the World Health Organization said it first received word of cases of pneumonia of an unknown cause in Wuhan, which later became known as the world's first outbreak of the coronavirus.

A team of WHO experts is scheduled to arrive in China in January 2021 to investigate the origins of the pandemic.

Wuhan has been largely virus free for months, with ABC News also reporting no new cases since May. Vaccines also are being administered, but there has been a recent increase in cases in some Chinese cities including Beijing.