Covid-19 : Shanghai expands lockdown as new cases surge by third.

On Wednesday, Shanghai extended shut downs to some western parts of the city. 

Shanghai, the financial capital of China, is in its third day of lockdown. Lockdown imposed by authorities divided the city roughly along the Huangpu River, splitting the historic centre from the eastern financial and industrial district of Pudong to allow for staggered testing. 

In the east, residents have been locked down since Monday, while those in the west were scheduled to start the 4-day lockdown on Friday. But it went into lockdown earlier than scheduled because 5,982 new local cases were reported. 

On Tuesday, several residents living in western districts received notice from their housing committees that they could not leave their compounds for the next seven days. The reasons stated were pandemic control or because some tested positive in the neighborhood. 

One notice seen by Reuters said, “We express our deepest thanks to all residents! We will resume normal life soon, but in the next period of time, we ask everyone to adhere closely to pandemic control measures, do not gather, and reduce movements. “

The city on March 29 reported a record 5,656 asymptomatic Covid-19 cases and 326 symptomatic cases. While the prior reported cases were 4,381 new asymptomatic and 96 new cases with symptoms. 

Economists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Tsinghua University, and other institutes estimated in mid-March that the locking down of major cities like Shanghai would result in a 4% reduction in the national real gross domestic product.

Shanghai authorities said that since the lockdown they have conducted 9.1 million nucleic acid tests and are starting to disinfect places such as office buildings, construction sites, wet markets, and schools in a month-long campaign.

Published By : VATSAL KOTHA
Edited By : KHUSHI THAKUR