Beijing, Shanghai battle growing Covid outbreak
TWELVE BEIJING DISTRICTS, INCLUDING CHAOYANG, WILL CARRY OUT A FURTHER THREE ROUNDS OF COVID TESTS BETWEEN MAY 3 AND 5
SHANGHAI/BEIJING: China’s commercial capital of Shanghai was dealt a blow on Monday as authorities reported 58 new Covid-19 cases outside areas under strict lockdown, while Beijing pressed on with testing millions of people on a May Day holiday few were celebrating.
Tough coronavirus curbs in Shanghai have stirred rare public anger, with millions of the city’s 25 million people stuck indoors for more than a month, some sealed inside fenced-off residential compounds and many struggling for daily necessities.
While Shanghai officials said the situation is improving, images on social media have unnerved the public at a time when hospitals and mortuaries in the city are overwhelmed.
Dead but found alive
On Monday, authorities said they were investigating five officials after videos showed a local care home transferring an elderly person in a body bag to a mortuary. The person was later found to be still alive.
Shanghai residents breathed a sigh of relief over the weekend at news that no cases had been confirmed outside areas under lockdown for two days, but disappointment came on Monday with the report of the 58 new infections among people who are allowed to move more freely around the city.
Authorities did not comment on the new cases at a media briefing but members of the public weighed in online.
“They announced that they stamped out cases at the community level too early,” one person commented on the Weibo platform.
Still, many people also took heart from data that showed encouraging trends, with 32 new deaths in Shanghai on Sunday, down from 38 a day earlier, and 6,804 new local cases, down from 7,189.
“There is hope for May,” said another Weibo user.
New focus on Beijing
Beijing, with dozens of daily infections in an outbreak in its second week, has not locked down, instead relying, at least for now, on mass testing to locate and isolate infections.
Home to 22 million, the capital tightened Covid curbs over the five-day Labour Day holiday that runs through Wednesday, traditionally one the busiest tourist seasons.
Twelve Beijing districts, including the largest one Chaoyang which is home to nightlife and embassies, will carry out a further three rounds of Covid-19 tests between May 3 and 5, a local official said on Monday. Chaoyang district accounts for the biggest share of infections in Beijing’s outbreak.
NZ opens its borders
New Zealand welcomed thousands of travellers from around the globe on Wednesday as the country opened its borders to visitors from around 60 nations including the US, Britain and Singapore for the first time since Covid hit in early 2020.
Maori cultural performers sang songs at the arrivals gate in Auckland and travellers were handed popular locally made chocolate bars as the first flights came in from Los Angeles and San Francisco. Friends and family hugged and cried as people were reunited for what was for some the first time in more than two years.
Also, Italy and Greece relaxed some Covid-19 restrictions on Sunday before Europe’s peak summer tourist season, in a sign that life was increasingly returning to normal.