BEIJING ( Associated Press) – Shanghai discharged more than 11,000 recovered COVID-19 patients on Sunday, and health officials insisted that lockdowns severely restrict movement in China’s largest city Despite this, they should be allowed to return home.
“We hope that his family and community will not worry about him or discriminate against him,” said Shanghai Health Commission director Wu Jinglei.
The city of 26 million people reported 1,006 confirmed infections and nearly 24,000 asymptomatic cases in the past 24 hours. Shanghai has been closed since March 28, and officials said on Saturday that strict measures would be taken in areas with no new cases in the past 14 days after another round of mass testing.
The United States on Saturday advised its citizens to reconsider travel to China due to “arbitrary enforcement” of local laws and COVID-19 restrictions, particularly in Hong Kong, Jilin province and Shanghai. US officials cited the risk of “separation of parents and children”.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in response that China is “very dissatisfied and strongly opposed to the baseless accusation of the US side against China’s pandemic response.”
“It should be pointed out that China’s anti-epidemic policies are science-based and effective, and we are confident that Shanghai and other places in China will triumph over the new wave of epidemics,” Zhao said.
Meanwhile, Shanghai authorities said they had secured daily supplies for residents from the online platform, according to the state-owned newspaper Global Times, following complaints about the delivery of food and other basic necessities as the lockdown continues. enters its third week.
Residents have resorted to buying groceries as they are not allowed to leave their buildings. Posts circulating on social media platforms such as Weibo also show that some residents have not been able to place their food orders, while others have posted online that they are running out of food.
Some people said that as soon as you go to the grocery shopping app, the orders of a day are already filled.
According to the Global Times, platforms such as JD.com as well as Alibaba’s Ele.me delivery app are working with authorities to ensure that everyone has access to vegetables, fruits and other products.
Shanghai highlights the growing human and economic cost of China’s “zero-Covid” strategy that aims to isolate every infected person.
Separately, Erjifang, an area in the capital Beijing, was classified as high-risk on Saturday after eight local COVID-19 infections were reported in the past two weeks.
In Guangzhou, primary and secondary schools will switch to online learning starting Monday, Hong Kong’s north-west metropolis of 18 million has recorded 23 local infections since Friday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. An exhibition center was being converted into a makeshift hospital, after officials had earlier said they would begin mass testing across the city.
China is facing one of its worst local outbreaks since the pandemic began. China is still closed to international travel, even as much of the world has sought ways to live with the virus.
