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Shanghai lockdown: Chinese city goes into two-phased lockdown as Covid spreads
Shanghai Covid cases: The financial hub has overtaken Jilin - 2,078 cases - as China's newest hotspot with 2,676 cases.
Shanghai will launch a phased lockdown to curb an omicron-driven Covid outbreak that has resulted in China facing its highest caseloads since the early days of the pandemic, the city government said Sunday. China's biggest city - with a population over 26 million - will shut its eastern half for five days of testing from Monday. The western side will be similarly shut on Friday. The lockdown comes as the city broke its record for daily new cases over three consecutive days - 1,609 on Thursday, 2,267 on Friday and 2,676 on Saturday.
The city will first lock down areas east of the Huangpu River, which includes its financial district and industrial parks, Bloomberg reported.
Residents will be barred from leaving home and public transport and car-hailing services will be suspended, authorities said. Private cars will not be allowed unless it is an emergency. Emergency medical needs will be guaranteed.
This week a nurse who had sought treatment for asthma but who was turned away from the hospital where she worked because it was closed.
Authorities had earlier ruled out a city-wide lockdown amid fears it could 'impact the global economy' given Shanghai's role as a global shipping hub. Some restrictions were introduced though, with negative Covid tests needed for people to move around in public.
The financial hub has overtaken the north-eastern province of Jilin - which reported 2,078 cases Saturday - as the newest hotspot in China.
READ: This city is now China's biggest Covid hotspot; cases spiked 66%
The situation in Shanghai and Jilin underscore difficulties in following President Xi Jinping order to eliminate the virus but minimise the economic and social impacts.
The WHO has said the BA. 2 sub-variant driving spikes in China, Hong Kong, parts of Europe and the United States is considered highly infectious.
China reported 4,790 new cases on Friday and 5,600 on Saturday; these numbers are exclusive of those from Hong Kong, which tracks Covid cases separately.
With input from AFP, Bloomberg
