This photo taken on January 30, 2020 shows officials in protective suits checking on an elderly man wearing a facemask who collapsed and died on a street near a hospital in Wuhan. AFP journalists saw the body on January 30, not long before an emergency vehicle arrived carrying police and medical staff in full-body protective suits. The World Health Organization declared a global emergency over the new coronavirus, as China reported on January 31 the death toll had climbed to 213 with nearly 10,000 infections. (Photo by Hector Retamal/AFP Photo)

A man wears a gas mask as he holds a bouquet of flowers, following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus on Valentine’s Day in Hong Kong, China on February 14, 2020. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

People look at a black bear at the Chengdu zoo amid the coronavirus outbreak on March 26, 2020 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province of China. (Photo by Wang Lei/China News Service via Getty Images)

Members of the special operations team conduct a building climbing training in Qinzhou, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, April 13, 2021. (Photo credit should read Costfoto/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

Children wearing cardboard lion dance masks walk along a street in Beijing on January 13, 2023. China has announced its first overall population decline in recent years amid an aging society and plunging birthrate. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)

A woman feeds red-billed gulls on the Haigeng Dam of Dian Lake on March 5, 2023 in Kunming, Yunnan Province of China. (Photo by Yang Zheng/VCG via Getty Images)

A woman rides her scooter as a dog chases her during heavy snowfall in Huai'an, in eastern China's Jiangsu province on February 4, 2024. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

Pausing for a selfie as plum blossoms burst into bloom in Dujiangyan City, in southwest China’s Sichuan province on February 20, 2024. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)