A health worker closing the entrance of a residential area during lockdown in Shanghai, China, on May 5, 2022. - Reuters
SHANGHAI (Bloomberg): Shanghai continues to find Covid-19 cases in the community, damping prospects for an easing of the punishing lockdown that has hampered business activity in the city and confined millions of people to their homes for more than a month.
While the total number of virus infections found in Shanghai Wednesday (May 11) dropped to 1,449, from 1,487 the day before, two of the cases appear to be outside of government-run isolation centres, according to a Bloomberg analysis of data reported by CCTV. The infections are a sign Covid hasn’t been eliminated in the community.
China continues to pursue a zero-tolerance strategy when it comes to the virus, and Shanghai officials have said that three consecutive days of zero community transmission is required before they can start to ease restrictions. No infections outside of quarantine were reported for Tuesday, but the two cases for Wednesday mean the timeline will need to be reset.
It’s uncertain when or if Shanghai can hit the three-day target. The city is moving everyone who tests positive for the virus and their contacts, using a broad definition that includes even people they don’t know well who live in the same buildings, into the government-run facilities in an effort to ring-fence the virus.
It’s infections outside that perimeter that officials are using to determine when to ease restrictions. The centers that have been rebuilt from stadiums, exhibition centers and schools have drawn criticism, as locals have clashed with police over facilities built near them.
The city managed two days with zero community spread at the end of April, only for cases to rebound. The approach shows how China is becoming increasingly out of sync with most of the world, imposing ever-more stringent and technical restrictions to try and tame Covid as other countries accept it is endemic and normalise.
Nearly 2 million of Shanghai’s 25 million residents remain under the strictest lockdown measures, meaning they aren’t allowed to leave their homes, officials said at a briefing today. Most others are dealing with milder versions that limits their movement to their housing compounds or nearby areas.
In Beijing, authorities remain on alert for any signs of Omicron bypassing curbs to seed new community clusters.
Despite a strict work-from-home order for a large swath of the city of 22 million, the closure of entertainment centers and a ban on dining-in at restaurants citywide, new infections continue to emerge in the community there, as well. That has led authorities to seal off apartment complexes and close banks and other venues.
The capital reported 46 cases for Wednesday, CCTV said, up from 37 on Tuesday.
China is becoming increasingly defensive about its continuation of Covid Zero, a strategy progressively abandoned by countries like Australia and Singapore as it became clear the virus was here to stay.
More contagious variants like Omicron mean pursuing the strategy is becoming more challenging, requiring more intensive measures that have raised concerns about people’s wellbeing and the hit to the economy.
Criticism of the approach from World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was rebuffed by China’s foreign ministry Wednesday, with spokesman Zhao Lijian hailing the merits of the Covid Zero playbook, which is reliant on lockdowns, border closures, isolating all positive cases and mass testing.
