Washington orders consular staff to leave Shanghai amid Covid-19 surge
The US has ordered all nonemergency consular staff to leave Shanghai, which is under a tight lockdown to contain a surge in Covid-19 infections.
The US state department said theorderisanupgradefromthe "authorised" departure issued last week that made the decision voluntary.
The order covers "non-emergency US government employees and their family members from US Consulate General Shanghai".
In its announcement late on Monday, the department said: "Our change in posture reflects our assessment that it is best for our employees and their families to be reduced in number and our operations to be scaleddownaswedealwiththe changingcircumstancesonthe ground."
The department also issued a series of advisories for Americans in Shanghai, including ensuring they have a "sufficient supply of money, medication, food, and other necessities for your family in the event of sudden restrictions or quarantine".
Many residents in the city of 26 million have been confined to their homes for up to three weeks.
Many describe an increasingly desperate situation, with families unable to leave their homes or obtain supplies of food and daily necessities, while people who test positive for the virus have been forced into mass quarantine centres where conditions have at times been described as crowded and unsanitary.
Despite the complaints, China has stuck to its "zero-covid" strategy of handling outbreaks with strict isolation and mass testing.
China's government and the entirely state-controlled media aregrowingincreasinglydefensive about complaints over the Covid-19 prevention measures.
Beijing responded angrily to lastweek'svoluntarydeparture advisory,withforeignministry spokesman Zhao Lijian saying China was "strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to the US side's groundless accusationagainstchina'sepidemic response".
In that announcement, the state department advised Americans to reconsider travelling to China due to "arbitrary enforcement" of local laws and Covid-19 restrictions, particularly in Hong Kong, Jilin province and Shanghai. US officials cited a risk of "parents and children being separated".
Despite that, and indications the hard-line policy is being dictated by the head of the ruling Communist Party Xi Jinping, China has rejected any notion that its response is political in nature.
Mr Xi Jinping has demanded social stability above all else in the runup to a key party congress later this year at which he is expected to bestow on himself an unprecedented third-term as party leader.
Shanghai authorities also say they have secured daily supplies for residents, following complaints about deliveries of food and other necessities.
Residents have resorted to group buying of groceries because they are not allowed to leave their buildings, with only partial success in obtaining needed items.
Shanghai says it will gradually lifted some restrictions on neighbourhoods where no new infections have been reported over the past two weeks.