After initially adopting a more piecemeal approach to minimizing financial turmoil, Shanghai imposed broader restrictions last week as authorities sought to curb what has become the city’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak. The lockdown now covers more than 25 million people after extending restrictions in the city’s western neighborhoods to what has become a testing ground for the government’s “dynamic clearing” approach to zero tolerance and its ability to limit the highly contagious Omicron variant. . Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “Currently, preventing and controlling the epidemic in Shanghai is at its most difficult and critical stage,” Wu Qianyu, a municipal health commission official, said in a statement on Tuesday. “We must adhere to the general policy of dynamic liquidation without hesitation, without hesitation.” Shanghai reported a record 13,086 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases on April 4, the municipality said on its official WeChat channel, from 8,581 the previous day, following a nationwide surveillance program that saw more than 25 million people swabbed in 24 hours. The local government said it had collected 25.67 million samples in 2.4 million test tubes on Monday and almost 80% of the total had been tested by 8:00 a.m. Tuesday. Any positive results are monitored individually. Symptoms dropped to 268 on Monday, from 425 the previous day. The rate of official symptomatic infections remains much lower than the rest of the world, which experts attribute to the city’s preventive screening process. At least 38,000 people have been deployed in Shanghai from other areas to what state media have described as the largest national medical operation since Wuhan closed in early 2020 after the first known coronavirus outbreak. Authorities said late Monday that further restrictions would be imposed on the city’s transport networks from Tuesday, with more subway lines suspended. DRAGON MEASURES Thousands of Shanghai residents have been locked up in basic “central quarantine” facilities after testing positive, whether symptomatic or not. Jane Polubotko, a Ukrainian marketer now being held in the city’s largest quarantine center, told Reuters it was unclear when and how they would be released. “No one knows how many exams we need to get out,” he said. As members of the public continued to express concern about Shanghai’s draconian measures, sharing videos on social media, Sun Chunlan, China’s vice president of COVID prevention, urged party organizations to “do everything possible.” »To help residents solve their problems. such as access to medicines, food and water. Analysts outside China have warned of the financial cost of the country’s relentless campaign to curb infections. “What is most striking in Shanghai is the difficulty that the authorities face in managing logistics, especially the conditions in quarantine headquarters,” said Michael Hirson, a China analyst at consulting firm Eurasia Group. “Given that Shanghai has an extremely capable government, the current problems are a warning to local governments across China, where capacity is not so high and large cases could extend resources further,” he added. Nationwide, China reported 1,235 confirmed coronavirus cases as of April 4, up from 1,405 the previous day, including 1,173 local outbreaks. The number of new asymptomatic cases rose to 15,355, compared to 11,862 the previous day. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by David Stanway and Brenda Goh. Edited by Stephen Coates and Richard Pullin Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
