Shanghai lockdown: Pudong orders Covid-19 tests for 5.7 million residents in countdown towards end of citywide lockdown on June 1
- Daily new infections fell 21.9 per cent to 264 cases in the past 24 hours, the sixth day of declines, according to data released on Friday
- Cases showing symptoms dipped 6.2 per cent to 45, the third day that the number stayed below 50, while one patient died
Shanghai stepped up mass tests across the city, ordering more residents to undergo nucleic acid screening for the Omicron variant of Covid-19, as the city begins a countdown to end the two-month citywide lockdown on June 1.
Daily new infections fell 21.9 per cent to 264 cases in the past 24 hours, the sixth day of declines, according to data released on Friday. Cases showing symptoms dipped 6.2 per cent to 45, the third day that the number stayed below 50. One patient died, unchanged from a day earlier.
Local authorities are not letting up their vigilance, with Pudong’s district government ordering all 5.7 million residents within their jurisdiction to test for Covid-19 on Friday. The 1,200-square kilometre area east of the Huangpu River is home to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Walt Disney’s Shanghai Disneyland resort, Tesla’s Gigafactory3 and the treasury operation of almost every bank in China.
“We must keep our focus on virus prevention and a concerted effort in the battle against the outbreak,” the district government said in a statement on Thursday night. “We will strive to return business and life to normality as soon as possible.”
No community infection was discovered on Thursday, indicating that China’s commercial and financial hub of 25 million people had managed to contain the spread of infections among people who are already under quarantine.
The cumulative death toll rose to 588, or 0.09 per cent of the 626,300 people infected in Shanghai since March 1.
“Local officials appear to be wary of a resurgence, and are hoping that new rounds of mass testing could minimise the risks,” said Meng Tianying, a senior executive at Shanghai-based consultancy Domo Medical. “It is expected that mass testing will be conducted in other districts before June 1.”
Nearly 99 per cent of Shanghai’s population live in areas that have already been declared virus-free for at least 14 days, according to a tally released by local authorities. About 22 million people in low-risk “precautionary zones” with the least restrictions are theoretically allowed to leave their compounds and walk about.
All 1 million residents of Jing’an district have to undergo three rounds of nucleic acid tests from Thursday through May 30, according to announcements this week.
Shanghai plans to lift the city’s lockdown on June 1 in a gradual and phased manner that aims to restore business activity, production and daily livelihoods to full normality by the end of the month.
Several thousand manufacturers and businesses have been given the green light to resume work under “closed loops”, subject to stringent Covid-19 prevention measures and daily tests, while workers are required to sleep on site to ensure zero contact with outsiders.
Public transport has resumed in several areas, after local authorities added identification and Covid-19 test data to transit cards to ensure speedy boarding for uninfected passengers.
Some of the state-owned companies have told their employees that they could travel between their offices and homes every day from June 1 without having to comply with closed-loop requirements.
The municipal government is also expected to allow some private cars on the roads from June 1, enabling people to commute to work, according to two local government officials.
The city’s southwestern district of Jinshan, one of the 16 administrative regions, is currently the only district to have fully restored public transport and allow private cars on the roads.
Shopping centres and department stores on the Nanjing Road East pedestrian street have passed through stress tests and will reopen to the public on June 1, the officials said.
But they are subject to 75 per cent of the normal capacity, according to the Shanghai Commission of Commerce.
