In China’s worst outbreak since Wuhan, Shanghai reported more than 13,000 daily COVID-19 cases for the first time on Monday, resulting the extension and expansion of lockdown measures.
The latest figure of 13,354 registered local cases is up from 9,006 a day earlier and from near zero at the start of March, a local government statement stated. Of these, 13,086 cases were found to be asymptomatic infections. More than 12,600 cases were recorded among people in quarantine while the remaining were uncovered during the testing of high-risk groups.
In order to contain the burgeoning caseload, Shanghai imposed a stringent two-stage lockdown last week. While the measure was set to end on Tuesday in the city’s western districts, it has now been extended indefinitely. Additional restrictions on public transportation networks were also announced by authorities late last night that are being imposed from today, including the suspension of more subway lines.
Video allegedly from Shanghai pic.twitter.com/0DUvy1BJVW
— Luke Rudkowski (@Lukewearechange) April 4, 2022
The government has also dispatched more than 2,000 military medical staff to Shanghai to help control the highly contagious Omicron variant. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Daily reported that the medical staff were sourced from seven medical units affiliated with the army, navy, and the joint logistics support force. The teams quickly carried out medical treatment and nucleic acid testing upon arrival in Shanghai, the newspaper said. As of Monday, at least 38,000 medical workers from across China have been sent to Shanghai.
As part of the aid response, a Chinese Air Force heavy transport Y-20 aircraft was also pictured at a Shanghai airport on early Monday morning. The military aircraft was previously been used to deliver aid to help Wuhan fight the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020.
Shanghai, home to 25 million residents, has vowed to finish mass testing within 36 hours. It also conducted a city-wide antigen test on Sunday.
In a controversial attempt to clamp down on infections, the city’s health officials have also been separating babies and young children from their parents if they test positive for the virus. Disgruntled parents and guardians took to social media to express their anger against the policy. “Parents need to meet ‘conditions’ to accompany their children? That’s absurd ... it should be their most basic right,” an anonymous user wrote on Weibo.
Day 16 of our Covid lockdown in Shanghai today and food is the key thing on people’s minds
— Jared T Nelson (@Jaredtnelson) April 2, 2022
We aren’t allowed to leave home so delivery is the only way
I was up at 6 am yesterday trying to get any kind of delivery but nothing was available all day
So far, same results today
Echoing the concerns, diplomats from more than 30 countries have written to China’s Foreign Ministry, urging authorities to cease the extreme measure. “We request that under no circumstances should parents and children be separated,” read a letter written by the French consulate in Shanghai, addressed to the foreign affairs office of Shanghai on March 31.
However, city officials defended the policy. Wu Qianyu, an official from the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, said on Monday that “If the child is younger than seven years old, those children will receive treatment in a public health centre. For older children or teenagers ... we are mainly isolating them in centralised (quarantine) places.” In recent days, unverified videos of babies and young children in state-run wards have been widely shared on Chinese social media.
According to medical experts cited by Chinese state-owned media house Global Times, the latest outbreak is larger in scale than Wuhan’s 2020 outbreak but less severe due to the “increased knowledge of the virus, accumulated experience in mobilising resources, improved diagnosis capacity, and more dynamic and targeted treatment methods.”