Shanghai overtakes Jilin to be China's biggest Covid-19 hotspot

Shanghai

SHANGHAI became China's biggest coronavirus hotspot after reporting another record increase in daily Covid-19 infections after the financial hub overtook the north-eastern province of Jilin, which reported 2,078 new daily cases last Saturday (Mar 26).

Shanghai had 2,676 new infections that day, a jump of 18 per cent from Friday, according to data from the municipal health commission. Covid-19 cases in Shanghai kept hitting records in the past week, though a vast majority are asymptomatic.

A member of the city's pandemic task force said officials were determined to avoid a full lockdown over the damage it would do to the economy.

Millions of Chinese in affected areas have been subjected to city-wide lockdowns by an Omicron-led outbreak that has sent daily case counts creeping ever-higher, though they remain insignificant compared to other countries.

Shanghai, however, has aimed to ease disruption with a more targeted approach marked by rolling 48-hour lockdowns of individual neighbourhoods and large-scale testing while largely keeping the metropolis of 25 million people running.

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At a daily Shanghai press conference last Saturday, officials alluded to the importance of avoiding a full lockdown of the huge port city.

"If Shanghai, this city of ours, came to a complete halt, there would be many international cargo ships floating in the East China Sea," said Wu Fan, a medical expert with the city's pandemic task force.

"This would impact the entire national economy and the global economy."

Wu made the comments as city officials also announced that they would begin handing out self-testing kits to Shanghai residents, in the latest sign that the government was expanding its pandemic response.

Jilin also said that it had begun distributing 500,000 rapid-antigen self-test kits.

Shanghai and Jilin have been the areas hardest hit by the outbreak, which took off in early March.

On Sunday, Shanghai officials said the city will carry out a fresh round of testing for Covid-19 that will require residents to locked down in 2 batches between Mar 28 and Apr 5. The city will first lock down areas east of the Huangpu River, which includes its financial district and industrial parks, for 4 days starting on Monday. Then the lockdown will start in the city's west for another 4 days.

The Shanghai government said on its official WeChat account that all public transport will be suspended during the lockdowns and that all firms and factories will suspend manufacturing or work remotely during the lockdown, apart from those involved in offering public services or food supply.

China on Saturday reported 5,600 new confirmed domestic transmissions, most of them asymptomatic.

Separately, Hong Kong will cut the time that airlines are banned for carrying excessive numbers of Covid-positive passengers to 7 days from 2 weeks.

The circuit-breaker mechanism that bans airlines if they carried 4 cases or more travellers from the same airport of origin within a week has been deleted, the government said late on Saturday. Bans could be meted out if 3 or more Covid cases are found on the same flight. BLOOMBERG, AFP, REUTERS