Shanghai extends lockdown to the entire city as tests show Covid spread
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Shanghai extends lockdown to the entire city as tests show Covid spread
Chinese authorities extended a lockdown in Shanghai to cover all of the financial center’s 26 million people on Tuesday after citywide testing saw new Covid-19 cases surge to more than 13,000 amid growing public anger over quarantine rules.
The lockdown now covers the entire city after restrictions in its western districts were extended until further notice, in what has become a major test of China’s zero-tolerance strategy to eliminate the novel coronavirus.
At least 38,000 personnel have been deployed to Shanghai from other regions in what state media has described as the biggest nationwide medical operation since the shutdown of the city of Wuhan in early 2020 after the first known coronavirus outbreak there. Shanghai’s quarantine policy has been criticized for separating children from parents and putting asymptomatic cases among those with symptoms.
A temporary treatment area had opened a 1,000-bed section for treating parents and children, the Shanghai Children Medical Center said on its social media account, but it was not clear if the new section indicated a wider change of policy. As a growing number of members of the public shared comments and videos across social media expressing frustration with the lockdown, authorities showed no sign of relenting.
“Shanghai’s epidemic prevention and control is at the most difficult and most critical stage,” Wu Qianyu, an official with the municipal health commission, told a briefing.
“We must adhere to the general policy of dynamic clearance without hesitation, without wavering.”
We did not comment on Tuesday on the uproar over children being separated from their parents but on Monday she insisted that positive children had to be kept apart.
Shanghai residents organized an online petition calling for asymptomatic children to be allowed to isolate themselves at home, with at least 1,000 people signed, but as of Tuesday it was no longer accessible on the WeChat messaging app.
Shanghai imposed tough restrictions last week as it struggled to contain what has become its biggest Covid outbreak, after originally taking a more targeted approach.