As coronavirus outbreaks spread across China, Shanghai is introducing new rounds of lockdowns to be rolled out sequentially in the city’s neighborhoods, the city government announced Sunday evening, as part of an effort to test its entire population of 26 million people.
The restrictions and mass tests will begin Monday morning in areas east of the Huangpu River, lasting until April 1. Restrictions and testing in districts west of the river begin April 1 and last until April 5.
According to the announcement, all citizens, except those who provide essential and public services, are not allowed to leave their neighborhood. Non-essential businesses and transportation will also cease operations.
Shanghai, China’s largest city and a global financial center, saw new cases rise daily to more than 2,600 on Sunday, from just a handful in early March. Hospitals and medical staff are stretched. Some neighborhoods in other districts with a concentration of cases have been shut down for more than a week, and an increasing number of people are reporting problems securing daily necessities, including medical supplies.
Unlike other Chinese cities, Shanghai had never imposed a full citywide lockdown before, but the current measure comes close. Since China’s first outbreak of coronavirus emerged in Wuhan in late 2019, the government has shut down major cities like Xi’an and Shenzhen as part of its strict “zero Covid” approach. Shanghai, on the other hand, has resorted to ‘grid screening’. The method has been hailed by the city’s health officials as a more accurate and efficient way to conduct tests in individual neighborhoods, and is consistent with Beijing’s new approach to contain the virus and minimize financial pain.
Wu Fan, an official of the Shanghai Health Commission, emphasized at a press conference on Saturday that the city cannot be completely shut down. “Because Shanghai is not only Shanghai for the people of Shanghai, but also plays an important role in national economic and social development and even has an impact on the global economy,” she said. Ms. Wu implored citizens to take the current screening process seriously so that the city could resume normal life efficiently and at minimal cost.
In the past five days, Shanghai has already conducted more than 30 million PCR tests in key areas of the city identified as being at higher risk of infection, as well as in low-risk areas. Health officials in Shanghai previously said the city had the capacity to conduct more than 1.9 million tests daily.