Shanghai returns to partial COVID-19 lockdown to control new cases
Parts of Shanghai went under new COVID-19 lockdown restrictions on Thursday as part of a "Zero COVID" policy intended to quickly control new transmissions, only weeks after the Chinese economic hub eased most restrictions related to the pandemic.To get more news about covid cases shanghai, you can visit shine news official website.
Parts of the city, including entertainment venues, returned to the lockdown -- as did some parts in Beijing -- due to a recent rise in coronavirus cases.Shanghai also ordered a new round of testing for millions of residents there. Some districts in both cities were put on "high alert" after health officials saw an increase in cases.
While Thursday's return is short of a full lockdown, the alert renewed fears that even stricter measures might soon be necessary.Shanghai's Minhang district said all 2 million residents will take nucleic acid tests this weekend and are being told to remain at home until further notice. The new outbreak has been traced to a well-known beauty parlor in the city that had reopened only a week ago.
China, which has a COVID-19 infection rate that's still low compared to other countries, has adopted a "zero-COVID" policy that's mainly aimed at protecting elderly residents and the Chinese medical system. Under the policy, new cases are isolated and close contacts, which can also include an entire building or community where they live, are required to quarantine.
Shanghai was under full lockdown for two months before it eased restrictions on June 1. Many businesses were closed during the lockdown and most of the city's 26 million residents were required to quarantine inside their homes.
""Everyone has sacrificed a lot. This day has been hard-won, and we need to cherish and protect it, and welcome back the Shanghai we are familiar with and missed," Shanghai government spokeswoman Yin Xin said shortly before the rules were lifted.
However, the goal of zero cases has yet to be reached. The World Health Organization says China's strategy is unsustainable but Chinese President Xi Jinping is not letting up. This week, health measures were further tightened in China's economic capital.
"We have to transfer you. You have been named as a contact case. Open up or we will knock the door in!" said one of the health workers to a resident of a building that was condemned due to the presence of a Covid case.Bus services in the eastern port city of 24 million people have been suspended and a negative COVID-19 test is required from anyone wanting to enter.The authorities reported 1,938 new coronavirus cases on the Chinese mainland on Sunday, more than triple the previous day's total.
Around three-quarters of those - 1,412 cases - were in Jilin province in the northeast, where entry to the industrial city of Changchun has been suspended and families told to stay at home.Stricter measures were introduced after officials decided an earlier response was inadequate.Zhang Yan, deputy director of the provincial health commission, said: "The emergency response mechanism in some areas is not sound enough."
In Shanghai, China's most populous city, the number of cases rose by 15 to 432.The city government called on the public not to leave unless necessary.Although China's infection numbers are relatively low, the authorities are enforcing a "zero tolerance" strategy to find and quarantine every infected person.
In Hong Kong, the local government reported 15,789 new daily cases, down by almost half from Saturday's total.Its leader, chief executive Carrie Lam, warned on Saturday that the latest infection surge might not yet be past its peak.
Some residents of Cangzhou, a city of 7.3 million people south of Beijing, have also been told to stay at home after nine cases were reported, according to a government notice.On the mainland, 831 new cases were reported in Changchun, 571 in the nearby provincial capital city of Jilin, 150 in the eastern port city of Qingdao and 60 in Shenzhen, a business centre next to Hong Kong.
