Shanghai once again locks down millions of people for mass COVID testing

Shanghai/Beijing, June 10 (Reuters)–Shanghai, the commercial center of the Communist China, will carry out mandatory large-scale COVID-19 testing on millions of people this weekend, just 10 days after lifting the harsh two-month lockdown, which has seriously upset residents and raised concerns about the impact on businesses.

Workers wearing protective clothing set up barriers outside a building after the outbreak of COVID-19 in Shanghai on June 9, 2022
Five of the districts said that residents will not be allowed to leave their homes during the testing period. The notice issued by Changning District describes these requirements as “closed management” of the sampled communities.

The latest panic triggered a boom in food hoarding in grocery stores and online platforms, as users of Weibo, literally Communist China’s version of Twitter, said they were worried that the lockdown will last for a longer time than the last one. They only started to return to work after the last blockade was lifted on June 1st.

ue to the infection and exposure to close contacts, some areas are still under lockdown or quickly resume lockdown once again. “The community next to me has been blocked,” said Zhang Jian, a 34-year-old real estate agent. “If large-scale testing is carried out and there are more positive cases in the greater community, it will have a serious impact on our lives. ”

Although the infection rate in Communist China is very low by global standards, President Xi Jinping has doubled down on the zero-COVID policy, which the authorities say is necessary to protect the elderly and the medical system, even if other countries are trying to coexist with the virus.