A healthcare worker in protective gear directs a resident at a Covid-19 testing station in Shanghai, China, on Sunday, July 10, 2022. Shanghai’s Covid-19 cases continued to rise, prompting authorities to declare more high-risk areas and fueling fears that China’s financial hub may tighten movement restrictions again. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
SHANGHAI, July 10 (Bloomberg): Shanghai reported its first case of the BA.5 sub-variant on Sunday, warning of "very high” risks as the city’s rising Covid outbreak sparks fears of a return to its earlier lockdown.
The case was discovered Friday, Zhao Dandan, vice head of Shanghai’s health commission, said at a press conference Sunday.
Mass testing for Covid will be performed twice between July 12 and July 14 in nine districts, as well as tests for people in some neighborhoods in other districts where infected people have been, he added. The city reported one local Covid case outside quarantine for Sunday.
The emergence of the highly infectious sub-variant in China’s financial capital follows BA.5’s arrival in other cities, a development that could further test the country’s ongoing commitment to Covid Zero. President Xi Jinping has said his government would rather tolerate some temporary impact on the economy than let Covid hurt people’s safety and health.
Shanghai reported 57 new infections for Saturday, according to a government statement, compared to 59 on Friday.
The city added 38 mid-risk areas and one high-risk area, the government said in a separate statement, after identifying 40 mid-risk and three high-risk areas the day before. Areas and complexes where infected people live are identified as risky.
Nationwide, China found a total of 344 cases, with Anhui remaining the province with the most infections, data from the National Health Commission show.
The number of daily cases in the country rebounded to more than 100 at the end of June after dropping to double digits amid full or partial lockdowns of major cities. Beijing, which along with Shanghai previously saw severe movement restrictions, reported no new cases from Saturday.
China’s leaders have yet to give up its economic growth target of around 5.5% this year and has stepped up stimulus to create more jobs and bring down the elevated unemployment rate. The Economic Daily, a newspaper affiliated with the State Council, urged local authorities not to overdo curbs in an article published Sunday.
"Covid control and economic and social development have never been a single-choice question,” wrote Wu Jiajia, a commentator for the paper. "No local government has the power to oversimplify prevention and control measures or recklessly escalate the restrictions.”
Workers wearing protective gear direct arriving passengers to quarantine hotels in the Hong Kong International Airport. - AP
Movement Restrictions
Haikou, the capital of China’s southern province of Hainan, banned vehicles and people from leaving Haidian island in the north of the city from 9:30 a.m. Sunday local time and urged residents to stay at home, according to state media.
Authorities detected "abnormal” results in four tubes from Covid tests conducted a day ago that had more than 150,000 samples. The city imposed temporary restrictions Saturday that shut down most businesses and public venues for the next week.
Guangzhou, the capital city of the southern province of Guangdong, tested nearly 6.3 million people over the past day and identified two compounds as mid-risk areas, asking residents not to leave their neighborhoods.
In Macau, the government reported 93 new cases from Saturday, taking the total number of infections in the latest outbreak to 1,467.
The gambling hub will shut almost all business premises including casinos for a week from Monday, reviving its toughest pandemic restrictions.
The Hong Kong government is considering implementing a health code system similar to mainland China’s, South China Morning Post on Sunday cited new health chief Lo Chung-mau as saying.
Lo dismissed concerns that the proposed measure, which may require real-name registration, would be unpopular with Hong Kong people, the newspaper said, citing the secretary of health’s comments on a TV program.
The city on Sunday reported 2,773 new local Covid infections and 219 imported cases. - Bloomberg
