In order to test the population, public life will be shut down in two stages.
(Photo: IMAGO/Xinhua)
Shanghai The Chinese economic and financial metropolis of Shanghai is imposing a lockdown to combat the corona pandemic. In order to test the population, public life will be shut down in two stages from Monday (March 28) to April 5, the city administration announced on Sunday.
Public transport will be discontinued. Employees of most companies are only allowed to work from home. Public services and the food supply are excluded. More than 26 million people live in the greater Shanghai area.
For Saturday alone, 2,631 asymptomatic corona cases were reported in Shanghai. This corresponds to almost 60 percent of all new infections in China. More than 14 million residents had recently undergone antigen tests, according to the city’s health commission. The districts east of the Huangpu River are scheduled to be cordoned off and tested between March 28 and April 1. The western districts will follow from April 1st to 5th.
A lockdown was ruled out by experts on Saturday. “Why can’t Shanghai be locked down? Because it is not only a city with residents, but also a city with an extremely important role in China’s economy,” said Wu Fan, an expert on the city’s leading epidemic control team.
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The second largest economy in the world after the USA is having trouble with the resurgence of the corona pandemic. The spread of the highly infectious omicron variant has already hit key manufacturing hubs such as Shenzhen and Dongguan this month. There, the assembly lines stood still in many plants – from factories for the construction of computer accessories such as flash drives to car parts. Ship jams are also increasing at important commercial ports. The Chinese government is pursuing a strict zero-Covid strategy.
With the lockdown in Shanghai, the concerns of the German economy about material and delivery bottlenecks are likely to increase. After all, China is by far their most important trading partner: goods worth 245.4 billion euros were traded between the two countries last year, 15.1 percent more than in the first Corona year 2020.
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