26 million people in Shanghai have been diagnosed with Govt infections after testing

SHANGHAI, April 5 (Reuters) – Chinese authorities on Tuesday extended the Shanghai lockout to include 26 million people at a financial center, following a city-wide probe that saw new COVID-19 cases rise to more than 13,000 amid public outrage over isolation. Rules.

As the corona virus novel becomes a major test of China’s zero tolerance strategy, the lockout now covers the entire city, after restrictions in the city’s western districts were extended until further notice.

Since the closure of Wuhan in early 2020 following the outbreak of the first known corona virus, at least 38,000 workers have been sent to Shanghai from other regions, with state media describing it as the largest nationwide medical operation.

The city’s isolation policy has been criticized for separating children from their parents and for making asymptomatic cases between those with symptoms. Some public health experts say this is no longer an effective strategy.

“I do not think this is a good idea for more than 24 months after an epidemic. -19 to be amended.

The public has shared videos on social media expressing concern about Lockdown.

Sun Sunlan, China’s deputy prime minister responsible for the Govt blockade, urged grassroots party organizations to “do everything possible” to address issues such as ensuring access to medicine, food and water for citizens.

Thousands of Shanghai residents, whether symptomatic or not, are locked up in basic “central isolation” facilities after a positive test.

Jane Polubotko, the Ukrainian marketing manager now housed in the city’s largest isolated center, told Reuters it was unclear when they would be released.

“No one knows how many tests we need to get out,” he said.

In an interview with the Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily on Saturday, Chen Ersen, the doctor in charge of the Shanghai isolation facility, said he would reconsider China’s guidelines and allow asymptomatic patients to stay at home, especially if the number of cases continues. Load.

“The most important thing is the problem of personal harmony,” he said.

Rise of cases

Authorities struggled to contain the city’s largest COVID-19 eruption since Shanghai imposed tighter controls last week, after first taking a very fragmented approach.

“Currently, Shanghai’s epidemic prevention and control is at a very difficult and critical juncture,” Wu Qianyu, an official with the Municipal Health Authority, told a conference on Tuesday. We must adhere to the general principle of dynamic clearance, without hesitation or hesitation.

On April 4, authorities reported 13,086 new asymptomatic corona virus cases in Shanghai, up from 8,581 the previous day, after the city-wide testing program caught more than 25 million people in 24 hours.

The government said on Monday that 25.7 million samples had been collected from 2.4 million test tubes and that nearly 80% of the total had been tested by Tuesday morning. Any positive results are followed on an individual level.

The rate of asymptomatic cases is much higher in Shanghai than in other parts of the world, which is due to a screening process that catches the sick before they get sick. However, experts said it did not explain why the number of symptom cases dropped from 425 to 268 on Monday.

Analysts outside China are warning of the economic cost of the epidemic control campaign.

“The most significant thing in Shanghai is the difficulty that the authorities have in managing the logistics, especially the conditions of the centralized isolation facilities,” said Michael Hirson, Chinese analyst at Eurasia Group Consulting.

“Because there is a high-capacity government in Shanghai, the current problems are a warning to local governments across China, where capacity is not high and large explosions could extend resources to limits.”

Reported by David Stanway and Brenda Coe; Editing by Richard Bullin and Stephen Coates

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