SHANGHAI, March 28 – China’s financial center Shanghai on Monday launched a two-stage lockdown of its 26 million people, closing bridges and tunnels and restricting highway traffic in a bid to stem the rising number of COVID-19 cases.
The quick lockdown announced by the Shanghai municipal government on Sunday will split the city in two for nine days roughly along the Huangpu River to allow for “staggered” testing. It’s the biggest COVID-related disruption to hit the city.
The order marks a turning point for the city government, which as recently as Saturday denied Shanghai would go into lockdown as it took a more piecemeal, ‘slicing and gridding’ approach to try to contain infections. Continue reading
Wu Fan, a member of Shanghai’s COVID expert team, said in a briefing that recent mass testing has found “widespread” infections across the city, prompting the stronger response.
“Containing the large-scale outbreak in our city is very important because once the infected people were brought under control, we blocked transmission,” she said, adding that testing would be carried out until all risks were eliminated.
A record 3,450 asymptomatic COVID cases were reported in Shanghai on Sunday, accounting for nearly 70% of the nationwide total, along with 50 symptomatic cases, the city government said.
Statewide as of Sunday, there were 5,134 new asymptomatic and 1,219 symptomatic cases, the health agency said in its regular bulletin. Continue reading
DISTURBANCES
As a major engine of China’s economy, Shanghai has sought to heed President Xi Jinping’s call to minimize the impact of COVID controls on businesses and people’s lives.
Wu said at a briefing on Saturday that Shanghai cannot be locked down for long because of the important role it plays in the national and even global economy.
But after Sunday’s about-face, mass testing has disrupted transportation, healthcare and a host of economic activities, and citywide land sales also halted on Monday.
The Shanghai Public Security Bureau said it will close river bridges and tunnels and highway tollbooths in the east of the city by April 1.
Similar restrictions will apply to areas west of the Huangpu River from April 1-5.
The bureau said traffic stops would be introduced on the freeways in and out of the city, and people leaving the city would have to show negative results from nucleic acid tests done within the past 48 hours.
The city government said Sunday it would halt public transport, including ride-hailing services, in closed-off areas. It also ordered the cessation of work in firms and factories, except for those providing public services or delivering food.
Services at several hospitals across Shanghai have also been suspended as they free up staff and other resources to help with mass testing.
US automaker Tesla (TSLA.O) will halt production at its plant in the city for four days, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The factory is located in an area of Shanghai affected by the first phase of the lockdown.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Continue reading
However, Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (0981.HK) said operations at its Shanghai factories were normal. Continue reading
The recent spike in COVID cases in China has added pressure on the world’s second largest economy and likely further dampened consumer spending.
“Because of Omicron’s high transferability and strengthening (zero-COVID strategy), markets have to be particularly concerned about a slowdown in growth in the second quarter,” analysts at Nomura said in a statement on Saturday.
Reporting by Andrew Galbraith and David Stanway in Shanghai; Additional reporting by Ryan Woo in Beijing; Editing by Jane Wardell, Robert Birsel