Shanghai orders mass Covid testing, lockdown

BEIJING: China’s largest city of Shanghai is ordering mass testing on Friday of all 1.3 million residents of its downtown Yangpu district and confining them to their homes at least until results are known.

The demand is an echo of measures ordered over the summer that led to a two-month lockdown of the entire city of 25 million that devastated its economy, prompting food shortages and rare confrontations between residents and the authorities.

Also, fresh lockdowns are being imposed from Wuhan,

Covid’s original epicentre, to China’s industrial belt on the east coast.

Schools and dining in at restaurants in the southern manufacturing powerhouse of Guangzhou have been suspended.

A survey by Japanese bank Nomura found the number of Chinese under Covid control measures right now is around 232 million, up from 225 million last week.

The 31 cities under some form of lockdown as of October 27 account for one in six people in China and 24.5% of its GDP, Nomura’s analysis found, up from 22.9% the previous week.