China: Shanghai in two-phased lockdown for mass testing as Covid cases rise

Shanghai’s entire population of about 25 million will be tested for Covid-19 during a two-phased lockdown over nine days beginning today.

Millions in China’s economic hub Shanghai went behind a staggered lockdown on Monday as a fresh round of nucleic acid testing started in the city, following a steady rise in asymptomatic Covid-19 cases in the past few weeks.

Traffic police wearing protective suits check on a vehicle before an underpass tunnel which has closed following the coronavirus outbreak in Shanghai, China, on Monday. (AP)

Shanghai’s entire population of about 25 million will be tested for Covid-19 during a two-phased lockdown over nine days beginning today.

Shanghai authorities announced the snap lockdown on Sunday as cases – especially asymptomatic ones – kept piling for weeks.

It’s the biggest Covid-19 related lockdowns in Shanghai since the virus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

The two lockdown phases were decided along the flow of the Huangpu river: Localities east of the river were locked down on Monday. “Then from 3am on April 1 to 3am on April 5, similar temporary closed-off management and testing will be launched mainly in urban districts west of the Huangpu River,” a Shanghai municipal government statement announced.

“In areas affected, closed-off management will take place in residential communities and residents will be required to stay indoors, while non-contact delivery of necessities will be allowed,” the statement added.

Transport services including bus, subway, ferry, taxi and online ride-hailing will be suspended in the areas under closed management.

The beginning of the lockdown saw residents in affected areas lining up in long queues to stock-up on essentials.

State media quoted a local resident as saying shelves at a neighbourhood supermarket in the city had emptied out by late Sunday night.

Authorities said on Monday that they have implemented measures to ensure the normal supply and availability of daily necessities.

Shanghai reported a record number of 50 local transmitted Covid-19 symptomatic cases and 3,450 local asymptomatic infections amid this round of outbreak on Monday.

“This round of epidemic in Shanghai is characterised by the coexistence of regional clusters and sporadic cases distributed across the entire city,” Wu Fan, a leading expert from Shanghai’s Covid-19 medical team said on Monday, state media reported.

Wu said it was necessary to conduct strict measures to reduce the personnel flow and find the hidden infections and cut the transmission among communities.

Meanwhile, the mainland on Monday reported 6,215 new domestic cases of Covid-19 for Sunday comprising 1,219 symptomatic and 4,996 asymptomatic ones, according to the national health commission (NHC).

Of the symptomatic local infections, 1,086 were reported in the northeastern province of Jilin.

The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases reported on the mainland, both local and imported, was 144,515 as of Sunday.

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases currently undergoing treatment stood at 27,745, of whom 58 were in severe condition.

A total of 4,638 patients had died of the virus on the mainland since the outbreak of the disease, the NHC said.