BEIJING (AP) – Shanghai, China’s largest city, ordered mass coronavirus testing on Friday for the 1.3 million residents of Yangpu Central District, who must stay home at least until the result of the screening.
The move is reminiscent of those taken over the summer that led to a two-month citywide lockdown of 25 million people that devastated the local economy and caused food shortages and unusual clashes between residents and authorities. At first it was said that the closure would last a few days, but later the deadline was extended.
China has shown no sign of easing its strict “zero COVID” policy since the ruling Communist Party congress that concluded this week handed Xi Jinping a third five-year term and filled the top with loyalists. .
Measures against the pandemic extend from Shanghai in the far east of the country to Tibet in the west, where protests against confinement have also been reported.
Footage of cell phones smuggled out of the region showed a crowd of Tibetan and Han Chinese migrants on the streets of Lhasa to protest a 74-day blockade. The images would have been taken Wednesday night, but showed no signs of violence.
Many Chinese had hoped for a relaxation of the strict COVID-19 protocol, which remains in place while the rest of the world is back to normal. The country’s borders remain mostly closed and newcomers must spend a 10-day quarantine in designated spaces.
Despite the cost, and the fact that the World Health Organization claims it unsustainable, Beijing blames this strategy for controlling infections and deaths, which are part of those recorded in other nations, even though Chinese data has often been questioned. .
China on Friday reported 1,337 new positives, mostly asymptomatic, and no deaths. In Shanghai, 11 asymptomatic cases were recorded and Tibet had one infection with symptoms and five without them.
Chinese authorities say the country has recorded 258,660 cases and 5,226 deaths since the pandemic was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019.
