Twin panda cubs made their first public appearance Wednesday before devoted fans in Tokyo, but they will be on display only briefly for now — over three days — due to a spike in COVID-19 cases driven by the omicron variant.

The twins, male cub Xiao Xiao and its sister Lei Lei, which were born at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo in June, took their first steps as beaming fans held up their smartphones to film the cuddly pair as they played together.

In a video released by the zoo Wednesday, the twin cubs sit back to back on a tree playing with bamboo while visitors can be heard saying “kawaii (cute)!” in the background. Then the male cub steps on its sister to move up the tree.

“My heart thumped with excitement when I first saw them,” said Kirie Tanaka, an avid panda fan who came from the western Japanese city of Osaka for the day.