China’s megacities step up Covid testing

Shanghai — Big Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xian, have ramped up testing for Covid-19 as infections ticked up after a weeklong holiday, with some local authorities hastily closing schools, entertainment venues and tourist spots.

Infections have risen this week to the highest since August, with the uptick coming after increased domestic travel during the “Golden Week” earlier this month. Authorities reported 2,089 new local infections for October 10, the highest since August 20.

While most of the cases were found in tourist destinations, including scenic spots in the northern region of Inner Mongolia, megacities that are often the source of well-heeled and well-travelled tourists have started to report more cases this week.

China’s financial capital Shanghai, a city of 25-million people, reported 28 new local cases for October 10, the fourth day of double-digit increases.

Shanghai, keen to avoid a reprise of the economically devastating and psychically scarring lockdown in April and May, said that all of its 16 districts were to conduct routine testing at least twice a week until November 10. That is a step up from once a week, a regime imposed after the earlier lockdown was lifted.

Checks on inbound travellers and in places such as hotels should also be strengthened, municipal authorities said.

The expanding web of preventive measures have already ensnared some residents.

Peter Lee, a long-time British expatriate, was out at lunch with his wife and seven-year-old son last week when he was suddenly notified his apartment block was to be locked down for 48 hours.

Lee and his son checked into a hotel, which was then also locked down. Lee’s wife, who was planning to join them, had no choice but to return home to be locked in, and then had her lockdown extended. Father and son are due to be released on Thursday, while Lee’s wife will not be released until Sunday.

“It might be that we say, we miss home and we miss mum too much and maybe we just go home and just deal with it, but we also lose another weekend then,” Lee said.

“We’re monitoring the situation because it seems like Shanghai is gradually shutting down anyway and if everything starts to close then there won’t be much benefit in being able to come and go.”

By October 10, 36 Chinese cities were implementing various degrees of lockdowns or control measures, with 197-million people affected, up from 180-million in the previous week, according to Nomura.

In China’s southern tech hub Shenzhen, where the BF.7 Omicron subvariant has been detected, local cases more than tripled to 33 on October 10 from one day earlier. Inbound travellers will be subject to three tests over three days, authorities in the city of 18-million people said on Tuesday.

In the northwestern city of Xian, which reported just over 100 cases from October 1-10, authorities suspended offline classes at schools on Tuesday and closed many public spaces.

Despite China’s small caseload versus the rest of the world, and the toll its tough counter-epidemic policies exact on the economy and population, the government has repeatedly urged people to accept the measures.

“We must be soberly aware our country is a large one with a population of over 1.4-billion, coupled with unbalanced regional development and insufficient medical resources overall,” state-controlled People’s Daily wrote in a commentary on Tuesday.

“Once a large-scale rebound occurs, the epidemic will spread, and is bound to have a serious impact on economic and social development, and the final price will be higher and losses will be greater.”

The Covid-19 preventive steps come days ahead of the Communist Party congress starting on October 16, where Xi Jinping is expected to extend his decade-long leadership for another five years. 

Reuters