Shanghai yesterday announced a record 21,000 new cases and a third consecutive day of COVID-19 testing as a lockdown of its 26 million people showed no sign of easing and Chinese cities tightened curbs — even in places with no recent infections.
Beijing intervened in Shanghai after the failure of its slice-and-grid approach, and insisted that China stick to its elimination approach to COVID-19, which it says is essential to keeping death rates low and preventing its medical system from breaking down.
Local authorities across China are stepping up virus control measures, including movement restrictions, mass testing and new quarantine centers.
Photo: AFP
Cities that jumped into action this week included Henan Province’s Zhengzhou, which on Thursday said it would test all 12.6 million residents after finding a few asymptomatic cases in the previous few days.
Beijing has increased regular screening for employees in the city’s key sectors, requiring all staff at elderly care agencies, schools and institutions handling imported goods to undergo a test at least once a week.
In Yunnan Province’s Shizong County, shops were shut, transport suspended and residents barred from leaving their towns or villages after a person who was asymptomatic returned home from Shanghai and infected a household member.
Photo: AFP
Nomura this week estimated that 23 Chinese cities have implemented either full or partial lockdowns.
The cities collectively are home to an estimated 193 million people and contribute 22 percent of China’s GDP.
These include Changchun, a major manufacturing hub that has been locked down for 28 days.
Cui Ernan, a China consumer analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics who studies COVID-19 policies announced by China’s 100 largest cities, said that most were keeping restrictions in place even after case numbers returned to zero.
“The extremely widespread COVID restrictions beyond Shanghai, and the risk-averse attitude of both central and local government officials, suggest that the economic impact of the various lockdowns will not ease in a matter of days or even weeks,” Cui said in a note.
Stories of crowded and unsanitary central quarantine centers and fears of family separation have driven calls for home quarantine in Shanghai and for China to review its “dynamic clearance” approach.
Although the government has not acceded to these requests, it has started allowing some close contacts to isolate at home and on Wednesday eased its policy of separating infected children from their parents.
It is also transferring some patients to neighboring provinces.
However, food supply remains a concern with residents, due to a shortage of couriers.
Authorities said that they would allow more delivery personnel to leave locked-down areas and local media yesterday reported that Alibaba and online grocer Dingdong Maicai had recalled about 3,500 such workers altogether.
Shanghai has not indicated when it might lift its lockdown.
On Thursday, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention lead epidemiologist Wu Zunyou (吳尊友) said in a post online that action taken in Shanghai had to be “thunderous” to cut off the chain of transmission.
In theory, if multiple rounds of polymerase chain reaction testing were conducted in mega-cities with populations as large as 27 million within two to three days, they could reach zero cases “on the community level” within 10 days to two weeks.
“As long as these measures are implemented well, our country’s severe coronavirus epidemic situation will soon improve,” Wu said.
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