Shanghai yesterday said it had detected no new daily COVID-19 cases outside quarantine areas, marking a key milestone in its battle to contain the virus, which has paralyzed the city of 25 million and put residents in Beijing on edge.
Restaurants across the capital would temporarily ban dining-in and residents would need clear COVID-19 tests to visit public spaces, officials said in a major ramp up of virus controls at the start of the five-day Labor Day long weekend.
In Shanghai, scenes of homes and buildings, where residents were confined to prevent them from leaving, have grabbed headlines in the past few weeks when most other countries in the world are learning to live with the virus.
Photo: Reuters
China maintains a “zero COVID” policy aimed at eradicating the disease, leading to anger and frustration for residents, cooped up for more than a month.
Shanghai officials did not discuss the milestone at their daily news conference on the numbers for Friday, but Chinese social media cheered, with the topic “Shanghai sees zero-COVID transmission at the community level” receiving more than 190,000 views on Sina Weibo yesterday morning.
“Shanghai has finally reached zero at the community level!!! May Shanghai wake up as soon as possible!!” one post read.
“There is hope that we can be released after the May holiday,” another said.
Friday’s zero cases outside quarantine areas in Shanghai compared with 108 for Thursday.
However, some cast doubt over the Shanghai milestone, saying that most of the city’s residents are locked in some form of quarantine.
Health authorities said that there were close to 16,000 sealed-off areas in Shanghai, with more than 4 million people prevented from leaving their homes.
A further 5.4 million people were blocked from leaving their compounds.
Shanghai reported 47 COVID-19 deaths for Friday, down from 52 a day earlier.
Beijing reported 48 daily symptomatic COVID-19 cases for Friday, compared with 47 the day before, Xinhua news agency said, adding that the city recorded six asymptomatic cases, versus two a day earlier.
Mainland China reported 10,793 daily COVID-19 cases, down from 15,688 new cases a day earlier, the Chinese National Health Commission said.
Additional reporting by AFP
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
RSS