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This Happened

This Happened—January 23: The First COVID Lockdown

On this day three years ago, the Chinese government imposed a lockdown in Wuhan in what marked the unofficial beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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When was the first lockdown in Wuhan?

As a measure to stop the spread of COVID-19, first identified in Wuhan, the first lockdown was put into place on January 23, 2020 and lasted for 76 days ending on April 8, 2020.

What were the restrictions during the Wuhan lockdown?

During the lockdown, residents were not allowed to leave their homes or neighborhoods, and all public transportation was suspended. Movement within the city was also restricted, and all non-essential businesses were closed.

Did the Wuhan lockdown work?

The lockdown, along with other measures implemented in China, was effective in slowing the spread of the virus. However, the virus quickly spread to other countries, leading to a global pandemic.

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Green

Webs Worldwide! Why Spiders Are So Pivotal To The Planet's Ecosystem

Threatened with extinction, these little creatures, often feared, nonetheless provide us with significant ecological services.

Man showing his fist with a spider on it.

Dr Michel Dugon, Head of the Venom Systems Lab at NUI Galway, with a False Widow Spider, February 21, 2023, Galway, Connacht, Ireland.

© Cover Images via ZUMA press
Charlotte Meyer

PARIS — At the heart of a dimly lit room, 76 spider webs intertwine and entangle. Microphones placed on either side of the space amplify the vibrations created by the spiders as they move along the threads.

One thing is certain: it's best not to be arachnophobic when visiting the place! In 2018, Tomas Saraceno was given carte blanche to take over the 13,000 m2 of the Palais de Tokyo. The Argentine artist, who has been building one of the world's largest collections of spider webs in his Berlin studio for several years, wasted no time.

With his exhibition "On Air," the Parisian contemporary art center transformed into a vast laboratory traversed by webs of various shapes, where spiders observe the visitors. For Saraceno, the webs evoke the connections that unite living beings with each other.

If the exhibition made a sensation, it's because spiders both fascinate and repulse us. But regardless of our relationship with them, we will likely need to pay them more attention in the coming years. On April 5, the French Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) presented the first comprehensive assessment of spiders in France, which reveals that one in 10 species in France, out of the 1,622 identified, is threatened.

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