Authorities launch campaign to change communal eating habits after coronavirus
On 18 January, about 40,000 families in the neighbourhood of Baibuting in Wuhan gathered for a massive potluck meal before the lunary new year. Photographs of the event, proudly published in local state media, showed residents in festive red and yellow bibs digging in, reaching with their chopsticks for hundreds of dishes laid out on banquet tables.
Five days later, the city was placed under lockdown and within weeks, there were several possible coronavirus infections in the neighbourhood. For months to come that banquet would be cited as an example of how little local officials had done to prevent the virus from spreading across their city.
Related: Will coronavirus spell an end to the great Chinese buffet?
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