Coronavirus: Shanghai finds a record 3,200 cases with Covid-19 symptoms as mass tests uncover Omicron lurking in families in cloistered homes

More residents in Shanghai are showing up sick, as more than half a dozen rounds of mass tests found the Covid-19 disease lurking among family members cloistered in locked-down homes across the city of 25 million people.

Symptomatic cases rose by 20 per cent to a record 3,200, out of 23,072 infections, according to data of the previous 24 hours released on Friday. That brought Shanghai’s total to 303,000 cases since March 1, of which nine patients – unvaccinated, elderly residents from 70 to 93 years – were in “severe” conditions due to their underlying ailments.

“Transmissions within households are currently the main cause of the sporadic spread of the Omicron variant in Shanghai,” said Wu Huanyu, a deputy director of the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), during a Thursday online press briefing, adding that contaminated food deliveries have exacerbated the “intra-family” infections.

Shanghai’s authorities earmarked 140 billion yuan (US$22 billion) of tax breaks, cash rebates, rental exemptions and financial incentives to survive, as a citywide lockdown since April 5 has brought China’s financial and commercial centre virtually to a standstill.

Chinese Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan, stationed in Shanghai since April 2 to oversee the anti-pandemic work, instructed local authorities on Thursday to close any “loopholes” in the city’s work, after the Chinese president doubled down on his government’s pursuit of a dynamic zero-Covid goal.