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China is implementing a phased lockdown of its largest city this week as part of the country’s draconian “zero-COVID” strategy to try to rein in the largest coronavirus surge since the beginning of the pandemic.
On Monday, Shanghai’s Pudong financial district and all areas east of the Huangpu River will go into lockdown for five days as officials start mass testing residents.
Then on Friday, the area west of the Huangpu River will go into its own five-day lockdown.
Residents wearing face masks to help protect from the coronavirus line up outside a supermarket at night to buy groceries on Sunday, March 27, 2022, in Shanghai, China.
(Associated Press)
Public transportation will be suspended, non-essential businesses will be closed, and all residents will be required to stay home for the duration of the lockdown.
Shanghai, the world’s third-largest city, reported 2,631 new asymptomatic cases and 47 cases with symptoms on Saturday, according to government numbers.
A delivery man walks by police officers with protective suit outside of a hotel in Shanghai, China, on March 15, 2022.
(Associated Press)
It marks the first large-scale lockdown for Shanghai, a city of 26 million people that serves as China’s financial center.
Wu Zunyou, an infectious disease expert at China’s Center for Disease Control, said this week that China will try to “achieve dynamic zero-COVID in the short term, as it is still the most economical and most effective prevention strategy against COVID-19.”
A woman gets a coronavirus test at an outdoor testing site Monday, March 21, 2022, in Beijing, China.
(AP Photo/Andy Wong)
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“Only by doing dynamic zero-COVID can we eliminate the hidden dangers of the epidemic, avoid the run on medical resources that may be caused by large-scale infections and prevent a large number of possible deaths of the elderly or those with underlying diseases,” Wu said Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
