A bride in a long white gown poses by Wuhan’s East Lake with her groom, face masks off momentarily as a photographer snaps pre-wedding photos.

At a nearby park in the central Chinese city, a grandfather swings his tiny grandson in a hammock strung between trees while families with tents and picnic mats make the most of a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Signs of life unimaginable during the recently ended lockdown at the coronavirus pandemic’s ground zero have appeared in recent days, as Wuhan returns to work and play days after lifting a 76-day quarantine on April 8.

Onlookers join a man singing and dancing near a bridge by the Yangtze river, while swimmers dive into the water elsewhere along the bank, even as public spaces around the world fall silent under the shadow of the pandemic.