Millions of people in Shanghai will continue to live under lockdown rules after officials reversed plans to ease COVID restrictions.
A two-stage lockdown was imposed last week in China‘s financial centre after the city’s largest coronavirus outbreak.
Officials had planned to lift a lockdown in the city’s western districts today, but the restrictions have now been extended until further notice.
It comes as officials struggle to deal with an outbreak of COVID as more than 13,000 asymptomatic cases were reported on Monday – an increase of more than 8,500 on the previous day.
More than 13,000 asymptomatic COVID cases were reported on Monday
More than 25 million people were tested in the space of 24 hours and symptomatic cases fell to 268 on Monday, from 425 a day earlier.
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Almost 38,000 medical personnel have been deployed in Shanghai from other regions in China, in what state media has described as the biggest nationwide medical operation since the first lockdown of Wuhan in January 2020.
On Monday evening, officials announced further restrictions would be placed on transport networks and more subway lines would be suspended.
Disinfectant is sprayed in a Shanghai neighbourhood
China’s vice-premier in charge of the COVID-19 response, Sun Chunlan, said that prevention and control work was at a “critical point” in Shanghai and it is vital every resident is tested.
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“What is most striking in Shanghai is the difficulty that the authorities are having in managing logistics, particularly conditions in centralised quarantine facilities,” said Michael Hirson, China analyst with the Eurasia Group consultancy.
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“Given that Shanghai has a highly capable government, current problems pose a warning for local governments across China where capacity is not as high and major outbreaks could stretch resources further to the limits.”
