Shanghai to test residents before easing lockdown

Beijing, Apr 9 (EFE).- The eastern Chinese metropolis of Shanghai is planning a new round of testing for all its residents before easing the lockdown imposed on the city due to the recent spike in cases of Covid-19.

According to the latest official count released on Saturday, the city recorded a total of 23,624 infections on Friday.

Deputy Mayor Zong Ming said Saturday that the city would conduct a new round of testing for its residents and, based on the results, will classify residential buildings into three types: “confined”, “under control” and “under precaution”, with different measures for each.

“We will put in place policies that will vary according to the area based on the test results,” the vice mayor said at a press conference, according to local media.

Authorities in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou announced Saturday that they will also test residents in several districts of the city after confirming 2 cases of Covid a day earlier.

“We have detected community transmission of the coronavirus in some areas and it is possible that it has spread. The situation is more serious than a few months ago, when the city had to deal with an outbreak of the delta variant,” local authorities said in a statement.

China’s National Health Commission on Saturday confirmed 1,350 new positive cases nationwide – 1,334 through local transmission – in addition to 23,815 asymptomatic cases.

China, which has a strict “zero tolerance” policy towards coronavirus, is experiencing a wave of outbreaks attributed to the Omicron variant that is causing record numbers of infections not seen since the beginning of the pandemic in the first half of 2020.

Omicron has sent China back to square one in its “battle” against Covid, with severe restrictions on travel, borders closed to the outside world and lockdowns of entire cities such as the eastern metropolis of Shanghai. EFE

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