Chinese city to be split in half using river for new two-part lockdown

The Chinese city of Shanghai is to be divided in half for a two-part lockdown which will see authorities roll out an experimental COVID testing regime.

Shanghai has been battling a new coronavirus surge for nearly a month, and on Saturday reported its highest daily number of cases since the initial outbreak in China receded.

Authorities have decided to use the Huangpu River that passes through the city as a dividing point, as it locks down in two stages over a nine-day period.

Districts on one side will be locked down and tested between 28 March and 1 April, the other between 1 April and 5 April.

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Public transport, including ride-hailing services, in all areas will be suspended during the closures, the city government said on its official WeChat account, adding that unapproved vehicles will not be allowed on the roads.

It also said that all firms and factories will suspend manufacturing or work remotely during the lockdown, apart from those involved in offering public services or supplying food.

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“The public is asked to support, understand and cooperate with the city’s epidemic prevention and control work, and participate in nucleic acid testing in an orderly manner,” a government spokesperson added.

The city recorded 2,631 new asymptomatic cases on Saturday, which accounted for nearly 60% of China’s total new asymptomatic cases that day, plus 47 new cases with symptoms.

While case numbers in Shanghai remain modest by global standards, the city of 26 million people has become a testing ground for China’s “zero-COVID” strategy as it tries to bring the highly infectious Omicron variant under control.

Shanghai authorities have previously resisted a broad lockdown of the city to avoid destabilising its economy and opted for a more bespoke “slicing and gridding” approach, which involves screening neighbourhoods one by one.

More than 14 million residents have taken antigen tests, the city’s municipal health commission said on Sunday.

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But some residents have complained about seemingly endless cycles of testing and the piecemeal approach to ending transmission chains, with some saying the cost of zero-COVID had become too high.

China reported a total of 4,448 new asymptomatic infections on 26 March, up from 4,430 a day earlier, including 1,007 new cases in the northeastern province of Jilin, currently under lockdown.

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