‘76 Days’ documentary goes inside Wuhan’s COVID lockdown from February to April

More than 1.5 million people around the world have died from COVID-19 so far. The pandemic has been so devastating for nearly everyone that life before it feels like ages ago.

But it was this January when news started spreading of a deadly novel disease emerging in China. Leaked documents released last week show that Chinese health officials downplayed the extent of the virus’ spread. The report, from a health department in Hubei province, details how testing for the virus was slow and flawed, how officials underreported new cases and deaths, and how woefully underfunded and understaffed the hospitals were. The virus first emerged in Hubei province in the city of Wuhan, where 11 million people live.

The new documentary, “76 Days,” takes place inside four hospitals in Wuhan during the city’s 76-day lockdown from February to April. The film has no narrator and no one-on-one interviews. Instead, it’s packed with gripping footage of health care workers fighting to save people’s lives, and patients struggling to eat and breathe.

The movie was not made with the blessing of the Chinese government. Two of the three directors are Chinese journalists, and the third is New York-based director Hao Wu.