the Wuhan City government held an annual banquet in the Baibuting community celebrating the Chinese New Year, preparing food at ten different locations for 40 thousand families and likely contributing to the spread of the virus.[97] On 21 January 2020 when Wuhan mayor Zhou Xianwang was asked on state television why this banquet was held even after the number of cases had risen to 312, he responded, "the spread of the epidemic was limited between humans, so there was not enough warning"
