Shanghai announced Sunday it will implement a series of lockdowns to test its entire population of 26 million for COVID-19 amid outbreaks of the Omicron variant.
The closures and testing will begin Monday and last until April 1 for areas east of the Huangpu River. Areas west of the river will then face restrictions and testing April 1-5, according to the New York Times.
With the exception of people providing basic services, people will not be allowed to leave their homes, non-essential businesses will be closed and transit will be halted, the Times reported.
The move comes after Shanghai reported more than 2,600 COVID-19 cases on Sunday, after just a handful of cases earlier this month.
Unlike other cities in China that have adopted a zero-tolerance approach to COVID, the measures come closest to a full lockdown that Shanghai has experienced amid the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Just last week, officials in the city denied rumors they had implemented a citywide lockdown as COVID-19 cases surged to nearly 1,000 on Tuesday.
At the time, authorities said they were taking a “slicing and gridding” approach to testing neighborhoods for infections rather than shutting down the city.
“Please don’t believe or spread rumours,” city officials added at the time.