Shanghai reported a new surge in Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, despite a partial lockdown in China’s economic capital that prompted a rush of residents to supermarkets.
The metropolis has become in recent days the epicenter of a new wave of contamination, linked to the Omicron variant, which began to accelerate in early March and is putting the Chinese zero Covid strategy to the test.
The health ministry reported 4,477 new positive cases in Shanghai on Tuesday, up from 3,500 the day before.
A very low number on a global scale but high for China, where the number of new daily contaminations has rarely exceeded one hundred since the spring of 2020.
Since Monday, the eastern half of Shanghai has been locked down for four days. On April 1, it will be the turn of the western part of the city.
The authorities justify this confinement in two stages by the economic impact that a total closure of the city would have.
The sudden announcement of this measure on Sunday evening caused an influx of residents into supermarkets in the western half still open until Thursday.
Empty stalls and shelves, many businesses seemed to have been robbed.
“The price of goods is rising and people are panicking,” Yang, a retiree who declined to give his full name, told AFP.
A guard at the entrance to a confined residential complex in Yangpu district on March 28, 2022 in Shanghai.
© AFP – Hector RETAMAL
More than 2,000 km from Shanghai, millions of inhabitants are also confined to northeast China.
Jilin province, bordering North Korea, is one of the regions hardest hit by the epidemic.
According to local media, 19 temporary hospitals have been built there in recent weeks.
All rights of reproduction and representation reserved. © (2022) Agence France-Presse