All 1.3 million residents of downtown Yangpu district, located in China’s largest city Shanghai, have been confined to their homes until the results of a mandatory Covid-19 testing is available as the country’s communist government seeks to strengthen its “zero-COVID” policy.
A major congress of the ruling Communist Party has awarded authoritarian leader Xi Jinping a third five-year term in power and the government has shown no sign of backing away from its “zero-COVID” policy measures that were ordered over the summer. Under this policy, the entire city of 25 million were on lock-down for two months.
Strict measures have been imposed across the country, from Shanghai in the east to Tibet far to the west, where anti-lockdown protests have also been reported.The lock-downs have devastated the local economy and has created food shortages.
Many Chinese are agitating for a relaxation of the strict anti-COVID-19 protocols, which are still being enforced. China’s borders remain largely closed and arrivals must undergo a 10-day quarantine at a designated space.
China credits the policy for keeping case numbers and deaths at a fraction of those in other countries. China on Friday reported 1,337 new cases – most of them asymptomatic – and no new deaths. The country has recorded a total of 258,660 cases and 5,226 deaths since the pandemic was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019.
As of mid-October, 90 per cent of Chinese were fully vaccinated and 57 per cent had received a booster shot. Still, China wants more people to get booster shots before it relaxes its restrictions.