Shanghai will test more than half of its 25 million residents for Covid-19 this weekend, stoking fears of a return to stricter restrictions just days after the financial hub emerged from two months of strict lockdown.
The mass testing announcements have sparked fears of a return to severe and prolonged isolation among Shanghai residents, many of whom have been confined to their homes for two months or most since March.
These fears triggered an out-of-control purchase. On Thursday, Shanghai residents rushed to supermarkets to stock up on food and other daily necessities, forming long lines at checkouts and leaving shelves empty, according to photos and videos circulating on social media.
At least seven of the city’s 16 districts, with a combined population of 15 million people, will carry out mass testing over the weekend, Zhao Dandan, deputy head of the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, said at a news conference on Thursday. . The districts include Shanghai’s most populous areas and bustling business centers such as Pudong and Xuhui.
Districts that have reported positive cases since Shanghai lifted the citywide quarantine on June 1 will be placed under “closed management” during test sample collection, Zhao said. She did not specify how long the testing period will last.
In China’s zero Covid policy concept, “closed management” generally refers to restrictions that prevent people from leaving their residential communities or workplaces.
But the mass testing campaign extends far beyond the seven districts named by Shanghai’s health authorities.
On Thursday night, Changning District, which is home to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and 700,000 residents, announced on its official social media account that it will carry out mass Covid testing on Saturday.
“During the testing period, closed management will apply in residential communities where (residents) can only enter but not leave,” the statement said.
Earlier on Thursday, Songjiang District also said on social media that its 1.9 million residents are expected to be tested for Covid over the weekend.
Change
Chinese leaders have repeatedly pledged to follow the zero Covid policy, which aims to quickly eliminate local outbreaks with mass testing, instant lockdowns, extensive contact tracing and quarantine.
Officials warn that a relaxation of the policy will lead to an increase in hospitalizations and deaths among the country’s elderly population — many of whom have not yet been fully vaccinated.
But the strategy is facing a growing challenge from the highly transmissible Omicron variant, and causing growing discontent among residents whose lives have often been cut short.
In China, the detection of a single positive case can put an entire building or community under government quarantine and put several nearby neighborhoods under lockdown for two weeks.
Since the loosening of restrictions on June 1, Shanghai has continued to report cases of Covid, including among residents outside the quarantine areas. As a result, an increasing number of neighborhoods have been put back under strict quarantine.
A video taken by CNN shows tall fences erected to isolate a large part of the tree-lined former French concession area in downtown Shanghai.
On Thursday, Shanghai authorities reported six new local cases of Covid, three of which were attributed to a hair salon in the center of the city. State media had previously reported that three employees at the salon tested positive, likely resulting in the quarantining of 13 other workers and 502 customers — and their close contacts — who visited the salon last week.
A Shanghai resident told CNN that more than 200 people living in two buildings in his neighborhood have been placed in isolation after two residents were identified as close contacts of the hair salon cases.
Meanwhile, in Beijing, the city’s largest district announced on Thursday the closure of all entertainment venues, including bars, internet cafes and some sports facilities, just days after allowing them to reopen.
The move came after authorities reported three local Covid cases, all linked to a bar in Chaoyang district, which is home to the capital’s main nightlife scenes. Several other districts in Beijing have announced similar closures.
Source: CNN Brasil
