Shanghai, Beijing tell residents to avoid social contacts
SHANGHAI/BEIJING: China’s two biggest cities tightened Covid-19 curbs on their residents on Monday, raising new frustration and even questions about the legality of its uncompromising battle with the virus.
As authorities wrestle with China’s worst Covid outbreaks since the epidemic began, authorities in its most populous city of Shanghai have launched a new push to end infections outside quarantine zones by late May, people familiar with the matter said.
While there has been no official announcement, over the weekend some residents in at least four of its 16 districts received notices saying they were no longer able to leave their homes or receive deliveries as part of the effort to drive community infections down to zero.
“Go home, go home!” a woman shouted through a megaphone at residents mingling below apartment towers at one of those compounds on Sunday.
Two residents in a fifth district, Yangpu, said they were notified of similar measures and that grocers in their neighbourhoods would be shutting as part of the effort.
In Beijing, residents of its worst-hit areas were told to work from home while more roads, compounds and parks were sealed off on Monday as the city of 22 million grappled with its worst outbreak since 2020.
More bus routes were suspended as more rounds of testing were conducted in a handful of districts, including Chaoyang and Fangshan, both of which were described by municipal authorities as the “priority of priorities” in the city’s counter-epidemic work.
Beijing reported on Monday 49 new locally transmitted cases for May 8, taking its tally of infections since April 22 to more than 760.
Beijing has been hoping to avoid the weeks of lockdowns that Shanghai has endured but the growing number of residential buildings under lockdown orders is unnerving residents.
“I just rented an apartment in this compound, and I didn’t receive any notice,” said a 28-year-old resident of Changping district in north Beijing surnamed Wang after being barred from leaving her compound on Monday.
“I’ve already been working from home but I’m worried I might run out of daily supplies.”
NY guv tests positive
New York governor Kathy Hochul tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday, saying she will isolate and work remotely this week.
“Thankfully, I’m vaccinated and boosted, and I’m asymptomatic,” Hochul, 63, tweeted. “A reminder to all New Yorkers: get vaccinated and boosted, get tested, and stay home if you don’t feel well.”
A day earlier, the Democratic governor had tweeted a photo from the Olana State Historic Site outside Hudson, New York, which she visited to thank park volunteers.
Hochul is at least the 18th US governor to test positive for Covid-19, according to an Associated Press tally.