BEIJING, April 8 (BNA): Three local officials in Shanghai have been sacked due to the slow response to the COVID-19 outbreak in China’s largest city, as residents complain of harsh lockdown conditions leading to shortages of food and basic necessities. The Associated Press (Associated Press) reported.
An official notice on Friday gave no details of the allegations against the three officials, but said their failure to perform their epidemic prevention and control duties allowed the virus to spread, having a “serious impact” on efforts to control the outbreak.
On Friday, Shanghai reported more than 21,000 new local cases of infection, of which only 824 showed symptoms. The total number of cases of the outbreak that began last month in Shanghai has risen to more than 100,000, making it one of the most serious in China since the virus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019.
No additional deaths were reported in the outbreak blamed on the highly contagious but relatively less lethal omicron subvariant BA.2. The vaccination rate in China is about 90%, but it is much lower among the elderly.
Shanghai has placed all of its 26 million residents under lockdown and implemented mass testing, with anyone who test positive to remain in an isolation centre, some newly constructed from converted gymnasiums and exhibition halls.
Some residents received government food packages containing meat and vegetables. However, many are struggling to get rice and other essentials, as online sellers have run out, and delivery services are unable to keep up with demand.
With no word on when the lockdown will be lifted, anxiety is growing, along with frustration at the city’s apparent lack of preparation for an extended shutdown.
Travel in and out of Shanghai is largely halted, and the bustling city streets are usually deserted apart from the police, health workers and residents doing the test.
China has repeatedly imposed prolonged mass lockdowns over the two years of the epidemic. However, Shanghai has largely escaped the most arduous measures under China’s “zero COVID” strategy that aims to isolate every infected person.
Home to many of China’s richest, educated and most cosmopolitan citizens, the city was first promised a two-phase lockdown starting March 28 and lasting no more than eight days. With little notice, residents began running to supermarkets, soon leaving the shelves bare.
Those measures have since been extended, and many families who had planned for only a limited time were left in quarantine without supplies. Authorities say they will determine future steps based on test results, but have not provided any details.
Officials say Shanghai, which is home to the world’s busiest port and China’s main stock exchange, has enough to eat. But the city’s deputy mayor, Chen Tong, acknowledged Thursday that moving “the last 100 metres” into homes is a challenge.
City officials apologized for mismanaging the lockdown and promised to improve food supplies. Beijing’s Communist Party leadership is squashing complaints, especially online, in hopes of preventing the shutdown and attendant dissatisfaction from becoming a political issue ahead of a major party congress later this year.
In a further endorsement of the government’s approach, Xi credited China’s “closed-loop” administration with keeping the infection rate at just 0.45% of participants in this year’s Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics,
Addressing Friday’s ceremony honoring participants in the Chinese Games, Xi said China’s policy on COVID-19 “has yet again stood the test, and contributed to the world’s beneficial experience of fighting the virus and hosting major international events.”
The government says it is trying to limit the impact of its tactics, but authorities still impose restrictions that also block access to the industrial cities of Shenyang, Changchun and Jilin with millions of residents in the northeast.
Meanwhile, sanctions against officials who are seen as not being strict enough seem to motivate local governments to take extreme measures. Dozens of local officials across the country have been sacked or otherwise punished, although no one has been held accountable at the central government level.
Friday’s notice identified the people who shot as Cai Yongqiang, Xu Jianjun and Huang Wei, all of whom are district, district or township-level officials.
AOQ