Shanghai will lockdown seven districts starting on 11 June to conduct mass testing drives for COVID-19, not long after the city had started enjoying first signs of an economic rebirth.
This latest move follows a rebound in infections within the community to six on 9 June, up from zero registered the day before. Five additional infections have been found among people in quarantine on the same day, for a total of 11 cases in the financial hub, health officials said. Nationwide, China added 73 infections.
The temporary lockdown will cover millions of people across the Pudong, Huangpu, Jing’an, Xuhui, Hongkou, Baoshan and Minhang districts, as reported by Bloomberg.
This is the first major movement restriction since the financial hub exited a distressful two-month shutdown at the start of June.
While the plan is to impose a temporary lockdown only, residents face the risk of being confined to their homes for another two weeks if any COVID-19 infections are discovered, in line with China’s Covid Zero policy.
The news follows reports of operations at the Port of Shanghai reaching close to normalcy levels as the Covid wave had gradually shrunk.
Just a few days ago on 1 June, Shanghai started to ease COVID-19 restrictions that have disrupted port operations since China announced a lockdown last March.
The Danish giant Maersk was amongst companies who announced that all depots and warehouse operations had resumed.
Average waiting times for tankers, bulkers, and containerships at Shanghai also started to shrink; however, experts have continuously warned of the possible ripple effects that may continue to affect the global supply chain.
