Covid cases rise to 4,477 on the first day of lockdown in Shanghai. bloomberg
Shanghai cranked up lockdown restrictions for people living in the city’s eastern side, barring everyone from leaving their homes, even walking their dogs as local daily COVID-19 Infections rose to a record 4,477 on Tuesday.
All residents of Pudong district, home to several elite financial institutions and the Shanghai Stock Exchange, will be confined to their homes and only allowed to receive a COVID test, according to a statement issued by the area’s residential compounds reviewed by Bloomberg News. .
Wu Qianyu, an official with the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, said during a briefing on Tuesday that residents should not walk in hallways, garages or open areas of their residential premises to reduce the risk of infection. Including walking pets.
The strict lockdown rules came a day after the Chinese financial center began to lock down its 25 million people in two phases, with half the city locked down for four days, followed by the other half in the city. The goal is to test the entire city for COVID-19, as part of its effort to bring the largest outbreak under control.
Earlier residents could go to the lobbies of their buildings and roam the open areas of their premises. Some could leave the premises as long as no infection was found in their buildings. While the Shanghai government said on Sunday night that residents needed to stay home, the stringent home confinement was not clarified until Tuesday.
The Covid cases rose to 4,477 on the first day of the lockdown, from 3,500 on Monday. According to data from China’s National Health Commission, 6,886 cases were reported across the country on Tuesday.
The Shanghai municipal government will continue to support import antiviral drugs and COVID vaccines, officials said at the briefing, without providing further details. China imported about 21,000 boxes of Pfizer Inc.’s Covid pill Paxlovid via Shanghai earlier this month, and is treating high-risk patients with the drug.
Officials said the city has taken a slew of measures, including tax relief, rent extensions or cuts, and loan support for small businesses, retail and catering industries.
Shanghai’s lockdown after a month of less disruptive measures failed to stem Omicron’s swift and stealthy spread of the community.
While officials vowed to keep the financial hub, a key node in the global supply chain, open to avoid disruption to the Chinese and global economy, cases surged as officials targeted more buildings and expanded the scope of testing. Authorities finally relented, resorting to the widespread lockdown announced on Sunday night to contain the spread of the virus.
So far, China’s financial markets and the port of Shanghai, the world’s largest, are open and operating normally.
The deepening sanctions underscore the challenge to Chinese authorities in implementing President Xi Jinping’s call for measures to both mitigate and minimize their social and economic impact.
While southern Chinese tech hub Shenzhen saw infections wind up in single digits after emerging from a week-long lockdown, cities including Langfang and Tangshan near the capital Beijing, as well as the entire northeastern province of Jilin, have been locked down. two weeks.
According to Bloomberg News calculations, when Shanghai is included, about 62 million people in China are either in lockdown or facing an imminent lockdown.