SHANGHAI (Bloomberg): Shanghai’s Covid cases jumped more than 60% in a single day, topping 1,600 on Friday (March 25), even as authorities escalated restrictions that many feared would plunge the Chinese financial hub into city-wide lockdown.
There were 1,609 new infections, a record in the city of about 25 million people, including 1,580 without any symptoms, the Shanghai Health Commission said.
Scores of buildings and apartment blocks remained locked down for testing amid the growing outbreak, part of a wave that’s challenging China’s zero-tolerance approach as the rest of the world is abolishing pandemic restrictions.
Frustrated residents are struggling to secure fresh food as some compounds refuse to let them leave, while accessing medical care gets harder as select hospitals prioritize Covid patients and shut out-patient services. The situation underscores the hurdles officials face in implementing President Xi Jinping’s dual goals of eliminating the virus and minimising the economic and social impacts of the Covid Zero strategy.
While the country is still deploying measures like hardcore lockdowns in some areas -- residents in the entire province of Jilin, in China’s northeast, are confined to their homes -- the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron strain to China’s most economically significant hubs has prompted a pivot to more targeted approaches.
Shanghai officials ruled out a broad lockdown, though some parts of the city will be sealed off and further tested. The financial hub plans to use stadiums and exhibition centres to quarantine people with mild and asymptomatic infections, with facilities in Jiading and Minhang districts already revamped for that purpose. Pudong Shangri-La, a luxury hotel located in the heart of the city’s financial district, started serving as a quarantine hotel this week, according to hotel staff.
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