Shanghai, March 30 (BNA): Authorities began locking down some western areas of Shanghai two days ahead of schedule, as new cases of COVID-19 in China’s most populous city jumped by a third despite strict measures already in place to try Stop the spread of the virus. The virus is spreading.
The Chinese financial hub is home to 26 million people, and is in its third day of a lockdown imposed by officials by roughly dividing the city along the Huangpu River, separating the historic center west of the river from the eastern financial and industrial district of Pudong to allow it. The group tests are staggered, Reuters reported.
While residents in the east have been on lockdown since Monday, residents in the west were previously scheduled to begin their four-day lockdown on Friday.
A large-scale shutdown of a major city like Shanghai would result in a 4 percent drop in national real GDP, economists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Tsinghua University and other institutes estimated in mid-March.
Shanghai on Wednesday reported 5,656 asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and 326 asymptomatic cases on March 29, up from 4,381 new asymptomatic cases and 96 new asymptomatic cases the day before. China reclassifies asymptomatic cases if they later develop symptoms.
On Tuesday, many residents of western neighborhoods received a notice from their housing committees that they would be prohibited from leaving their compounds for seven days.
“We will resume normal life soon, but in the coming period we ask everyone to adhere closely to measures to combat the epidemic, not to gather and reduce movements,” said a notice to the housing committee seen by Reuters.
Meanwhile, the city’s southwestern Minhang district, home to more than 2.5 million people, said it would suspend public bus services until April 5.
Shanghai authorities said at a press conference on Wednesday that they had conducted 9.1 million DNA tests since the lockdown began on Monday.
Commercial life has already been seriously disrupted.
The shutdown disrupted auto production in the city as two major component suppliers, Aptiv and Thyssenkrupp, joined Tesla in shutting down factories due to COVID control measures.
Meanwhile, Chinese companies have halted a flurry of planned domestic initial public offerings, filings show, as an increase in existing cases has hampered due diligence and information gathering — affecting an estimated $9 billion in fundraising.
The Shanghai government said on its official WeChat account late Tuesday that those who refused to comply with the DNA test could be held legally responsible. It also warned that it would take strict action against any price gouging, after people rushed to stock up on food and medical supplies in anticipation of the closures.
Across China, daily numbers of new local infections in the past two weeks have been much higher than those seen in the first two months of this year, marking the largest case wave since 2020 centered in Wuhan.
The eastern city of Xuzhou, which reported fewer than 20 local infections last week, imposed a three-day lockdown in most areas from Wednesday.
The Xuzhou government said each household in those areas should only send one person out to shop for necessities each day, while non-essential businesses should either close their operations, make employees work from home, or work in a closed manner.
MI