As the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday approached, parishioners of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Xiantao city in China’s Hebei province were alarmed by the sounds of fireworks and firecrackers.
Xiantao, some 100 kilometres from provincial capital Wuhan, where the first human infections from the deadly novel coronavirus were detected in late 2019, was mostly lifeless at Easter last year due to a strict lockdown to stem the invisible enemy that has claimed some three million lives globally. Authorities gradually lifted restrictions following the decline of new cases and deaths across China, while nations in most parts of the world continue to grapple with the contagion.