Where there have been no cases in the last two weeks, the curfew will be lifted and only mentioned as a “prevention area”.
The Chinese port metropolis of Shanghai wants to carefully relax the strict crown lockdown for its 26 million inhabitants. According to a city government announcement on Monday, neighborhoods or building complexes will be divided into three categories depending on the number of infections. Only where there have been no cases in the last two weeks will the curfew be lifted and mentioned only as an “area of prevention”.
These include 7,565 residential complexes – a good 40 percent of the total number mentioned. In addition, 2,460 “controlled areas” were identified in which no infections were detected in the last seven days. Here, residents can move outdoors, at least on the grounds of the residential complex. There is no relaxation for 7,624 “closed neighborhoods” who have had infections in the last seven days. Residents have to stay in their homes there.
It was unclear how quickly the new rules would be implemented and how many people would actually benefit from them. According to the announcement, the parishes will “progressively” announce the list of areas and delimit them “within a reasonable time”. However, the status will change immediately if cases arise again. The city administration has asked residents to be able to move freely to avoid larger crowds and be less mobile.
No lower infection numbers
The lockdown, which has been in place for two weeks in some cases, has not yet reduced the number of new infections in Shanghai. The metropolis had a high of 26 thousand cases on Sunday. Most are asymptomatic. Any infected person must be quarantined. The exhibition halls in Shanghai were converted for this purpose. There is a lot of resentment in Shanghai over problems with caring for people or separating children from their parents.
With the arrival of Omicron and the rapidly expanding BA.2 variant, China’s zero Covid strategy will be put to the test. The most populous country is facing its worst corona wave since the start of the pandemic two years ago. Nationwide, there were about 27,500 new infections on Sunday.
(APA/dpa)