Advertisement
Shanghai
Business

Coronavirus: Shanghai backs away from easing lockdowns in ‘low-risk’ areas, even as Covid-19 cases end 10-day record streak

  • Shanghai added 22,342 new cases on Tuesday, including 994 symptomatic cases, bringing the city’s total infections to about 227,000 since March 1
  • China reported 24,546 confirmed Covid-19 cases nationwide on Tuesday, according to the national health commission

Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
44
Workers unload supplies including boxes of masks in Shanghai on April 10, 2022. Photo: Chinatopix via AP
Daniel Ren
Shanghai authorities have backed away from their plan to relax the lockdown measures in some of the lower-risk areas across the nation’s biggest commercial hub, as daily Covid-19 infections stayed above 20,000 even as they broke a 10-day record-setting streak.

Residents in 7,565 low-risk areas, or “precautionary zones” with no infections in the past 14 days, can move around within their compounds but are still barred from venturing out onto the streets if their surroundings belong to higher-risk areas, according to notices distributed in the Yangpu district.

That essentially combined the lowest-risk areas into the medium-risk “control areas” under the Shanghai authorities’ new classification system, first announced on the weekend. Apartment blocks and compounds in the highest-risk “lockdown zones” remain sealed off, and residents are not even allowed to leave their homes.

“The numbers of new cases are still high, and risks will [magnify] if crowds gather, even at those low-risk zones,” said Meng Tianying, a senior executive at Shanghai-based consultancy Domo Medical. “City officials are obviously worried about a resurgence [of Covid-19 cases] and decided to strengthen their control.”

A patient who has recovered from COVID-19 is disinfected as he leaves a makeshift hospital converted from Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of International Sourcing in Shanghai on Saturday, April 9, 2022. Photo: Xinhua via AP
A patient who has recovered from COVID-19 is disinfected as he leaves a makeshift hospital converted from Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of International Sourcing in Shanghai on Saturday, April 9, 2022. Photo: Xinhua via AP

A residential compound classified as a “precautionary zone” in the Xuhui district in Puxi, west of the Huangpu River, issues one ticket daily for each household, allowing only one person to venture out to the streets every day.

Advertisement