Topline
The city of Shanghai on Monday entered a two-stage lockdown, China’s biggest in more than two years, as the country’s financial hub with a population of 26 million continued to report a growing number of Covid-19 cases.
Police officers wearing protective gear control access to a tunnel in the direction of Pudong … [+]
Key Facts
The first phase—a five-day lockdown beginning Monday—will be limited to Shanghai’s Pudong financial district and nearby neighborhoods as people in the area undergo mass testing.
The second five-day lockdown will begin on Friday and will target the city’s massive downtown area to the west of the Huangpu River.
While under lockdown, residents will need to stay at home and deliveries of essentials will be dropped off at designated checkpoints near their homes.
All non-essential businesses and offices will remain closed and public transport will also remain suspended for the duration of the lockdown.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange remains open and according to the Associated Press several traders are staying inside a Covid bubble during lockdown.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange remained largely flat on Monday, up by less than 0.07%.
Big Number
3,450. That’s the total number of “asymptomatic” Covid cases reported in Shanghai on Monday according to China’s National Health Commission—nearly 70% of the country’s total number. The financial hub also reported 50 of the country’s 1,219 symptomatic cases. A majority of Shanghai’s current outbreak has been classified under “asymptomatic cases” as local officials have carried out targeted mass testing in parts of the city.
Surprising Fact
China has reported a total of 4,638 deaths from Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. Earlier this month, China reported two new Covid deaths, ending a nearly 14-month streak of zero fatalities. Despite this, China continues to have the lowest per-capita death rate for any country other than Burundi.
Key Background
The ongoing outbreak in Shanghai and a similarly large one in the Jinlin province has been the biggest challenge faced by China’s ‘dynamic zero-Covid’ strategy. Over the past year, Beijing used this strategy, which involved snap lockdowns and mass testing in cities where an outbreak was detected, to clamp down on the spread of the virus inside its borders. However, the ongoing surge in cases has been attributed to the fast spreading omicron subvariant known as BA.2 or “stealth omicron.” BA.2 has been called the “stealth variant” because it is missing several mutations present on other omicron subvariants, making it harder to distinguish from older variants using PCR tests.
Further Reading
China’s Shanghai launches two-phase lockdown as COVID surges (Reuters)
Shanghai starts China’s biggest COVID-19 lockdown in 2 years (Associated Press)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/03/28/shanghai-enters-two-stage-lockdown-as-china-scrambles-to-contain-covid-surge/