Shanghai authorities said today that the outbreak of covid-19 in the city has been brought under control after its estimated 25 million residents were put on lockdown about a month ago.
The number of new covid-19 infections in China's financial capital has been on a "continuous downward trend" since April 22, Shanghai Vice Mayor Wu Qing said. "Currently, the epidemic prevention and control situation in our city is steadily improving and the epidemic has been effectively brought under control," he added during a press conference."
Many of Shanghai's residents remain on lockdown and are protesting the measures imposed on them under Beijing's "zero tolerance to covid-19" policy. Wu warned that although transmission in the community has been "substantially contained", there is a risk of a resurgence of the outbreak and stressed that the city cannot deviate from its strategy of "dynamic clearance" of the virus.
"We cannot relax, we cannot reduce efforts: perseverance means victory," he stressed. Although about 2.3 million Shanghai residents remain on a strict lockdown, another 16.67 million live in low-risk "prevention zones", which theoretically means they can leave their homes.
However, many residents have complained that housing complex managers are applying the rules differently and so some citizens living in "prevention zones" are still unable to leave their homes, although no cases have been detected in their area for weeks.
The new coronavirus was first detected at the end of 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
The new coronavirus was first identified at the end of 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The lockdown imposed there in early 2020 was a precursor to Beijing's subsequent policy of mass testing, strict quarantine and travel restrictions, which significantly reduced the circulation of the virus for the next two years.
But in early 2022, outbreaks of the highly contagious Omicron variant strain appeared in several regions of the country. Since early March, China has been facing an outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic, which has spread almost across the country and which is putting its zero-tolerance policy towards covid-19 to the test.
Under this policy, anyone who tests positive for coronavirus is taken to a quarantine center, even if they show no symptoms, while their neighbors remain in isolation in their homes for 14 days.
Source: APE-MPA
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