The director of the Shanghai epidemic task force, Gu Honghui, was quoted as saying by state media that the outbreak in the city “is still running at a high level”. “The situation is extremely bleak,” Gu said.
Read more: Shanghai residents tired of China’s austerity measures as cases soar
China has sent more than 10,000 health workers from across the country to help the city, including 2,000 from the military, and is testing residents en masse, some of whom have been excluded for weeks. Most of eastern Shanghai, which is supposed to reopen last Friday, remained locked along with the western half of the city. The story goes on under the ad Shanghai recorded another 13,354 cases on Monday – the vast majority asymptomatic – bringing the city’s total to more than 73,000 since the latest wave of infections began last month. No deaths have been attributed to the outbreak caused by the omicron BA.2 variant, which is much more contagious but also less deadly than the previous delta strain. A separate outbreak continues to rage in the northeastern province of Jilin, and the capital, Beijing, has also recorded nine other cases, only one of which is asymptomatic. Workers closed an entire mall in the city where a case had been identified. 6:57 Rising COVID cases push Canada into 6th wave Rising COVID cases push Canada into 6th wave While China’s vaccination rate is around 90%, domestically produced inactivated virus vaccines are considered weaker than mRNA vaccines such as those produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna used abroad, as well as in Chinese territories. and Macau. Vaccination rates among the elderly are also much lower than in the general population, with only about half of those over 80 being fully vaccinated. Trending Stories
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The story goes on under the ad Meanwhile, there have been complaints in Shanghai about difficulties in obtaining food and daily necessities, as well as shortages of medical staff, volunteers and beds in isolation cells where tens of thousands are being held for monitoring. Shanghai has turned a showroom and other facilities into huge isolation centers where people with mild or no symptoms are housed in a sea of beds separated by temporary partitions. Public outrage has been fueled by reports and video clips posted on the Internet documenting the death of a nurse who was not admitted to her own hospital under COVID-19 restrictions and babies who were separated from their parents. The release of a video showing many babies being held in cribs prompted the city’s Public Health Clinical Center to issue a statement saying the children were being cared for and were being transferred to a new facility when the video was taken. At a virtual town hall on Monday, the U.S. consulate in Shanghai warned of possible family separations amid the lockdown, but said it had “extremely limited capacity” to intervene in such cases. Concerns are growing about the possible economic impact on the financial capital of China, another important shipping and manufacturing hub. Most public transport has been suspended and non-core businesses closed, although airports and train stations remain open and the city’s port and some large industries, such as car factories, continue to operate. The story goes on under the ad International events in the city have been canceled and three out of five foreign companies operating in Shanghai say they have reduced their forecasts for this year’s sales, according to a survey conducted last week by the American Chamber of Commerce. One-third of the 120 companies that responded to the survey said they had delayed investment. Despite these concerns and growing public frustration, China says it is sticking to the hard-core “zero tolerance” approach that requires lockdowns, mass testing and the mandatory isolation of all suspected cases and close contacts. © 2022 The Canadian Press
