Shanghai in Chaos

Shanghai has ordered its 26 million residents to undergo two more rounds of tests for COVID-19 as public anger grows over how authorities in China’s most populous city are tackling a record surge in the virus.

Residents should self-test using antigen kits and report any positive results, Shanghai government officials told a news conference, while a nucleic acid test would be conducted citywide on Monday.

“The main task is to completely eliminate risk points and to cut off the chain of transmission so that we can curb the spread of the epidemic as soon as possible,” said Wu Qianyu, an inspector from Shanghai Municipal Health Commission.

Authorities had vowed not to shut down the whole city, China’s finance hub, but have conceded rare failures in their attempts to control the outbreak.

Essentially all of China’s financial capital is locked down after the city began curbing movement in its eastern districts last Monday, extending the restrictions to the entire city days later. Sent to Shanghai by the central government, Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan urged the city on Saturday to “make resolute and swift moves” to curb the pandemic.

‘Temporary guardians’ for some children of infected parents

Nearly all of Shanghai’s residents have been under stay-at-home orders over the weekend, as parents raised fears of being separated from their children in the event of a positive COVID-19 test.

Shanghai on Sunday reported 7,788 daily locally transmitted asymptomatic cases, up from 6,501 the day before, while symptomatic cases rose to 438 from 260. The city accounted for the bulk of mainland China’s 11,781 daily locally transmitted asymptomatic cases and nearly one-third of its 1,506 symptomatic cases. This was the highest national case count since the early days of the pandemic in February, 2020.

Most of Shanghai’s infections have been asymptomatic, according to official data, but China’s “dynamic clearance” approach requires authorities to test, trace and centrally quarantine all positive cases. The testing regime has seeded anxiety among parents about being separated from their children.

“My daughter is not yet four-months-old but, if she tests positive, then she’ll be quarantined by herself,” a resident in the populous Puxi area, west of the Huangpu river, said. “This is totally impossible to understand. No matter the circumstances, a newborn should never be separated from their parents.”

According to state media outlet Xinhua, Shanghai will offer “timely support to juveniles” left unattended due to reasons such as their parents being infected with COVID-19, said Zeng Qun, the deputy head of the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.

Those left at home will be allotted a “temporary guardian” or transferred to institutions “for juvenile protection for special care”, the report said. China is also battling a large outbreak in the north-eastern province of Jilin.

Fresh food, resources stretched

Anger is rising among Shanghai residents over lockdowns that were initially billed for four days to mass-test the city, but now appear likely to drag into late next week or longer.

An initial four-day shutdown of Pudong, the eastern half of the financial hub, was meant to lapse on Friday. But most of its residents are still confined, as complex quarantine rules mean any block with a virus case will have to be locked down for up to two weeks.

Residents in the city’s western half were ordered to stay home from Friday. Fears have been rising in Shanghai, with residents complaining of a lack of fresh food while the city’s health resources are stretched.

There are more than 1,500 people in a city exhibition hall that has been converted into a quarantine centre. An unverified audio clip circulating on social media on Saturday purportedly showed a health official telling a resident that state quarantines were full.

While China has managed to quash most of its domestic virus clusters, the highly infectious Omicron variant has piled pressure on the country’s zero-COVID strategy. Shanghai’s restrictions threaten to impact supply chains, with some of the city’s logistics depots closed and trucking services likely be hit further due to the lockdown.