Shanghai starts closing the southwestern district of Minhang, which has 2.7 million residents, on Saturday morning to conduct mass tests against Covid-19, just as China’s financial hub was continuing to complete efforts to exit from a lockdown of over two months. The district will be “placed under closed management conditions and all residents will be tested,” the district authorities announced in a post on social media, adding that “the closure will be lifted after sample collection” without providing more specific details.
The city, which reported nine new infections (none in Minhang) on Wednesday, has eased many restrictions since June 1 after confining its 26 million residents since late March in efforts to contain the worst Covid outbreak in more than two. years, but the blockade has never been completely lifted, with hundreds of thousands of people with limited mobility and several housing complexes subjected to new residence orders. The city government, however, denied rumors that the rest of the city was again blocked in stages, saying the metropolis was “gradually resuming normal production and life.”
Beijing, meanwhile, is moving more smoothly towards normalcy after the closure of restaurants, gyms and subway stations in May to crack down on a smaller-scale outbreak. Chaoyang, the largest district in the Chinese capital with 4 million residents, ordered clubs and bars to be closed after some venues were linked to Covid cases, state media reported, recalling the continuation of the individual testing strategy from do every 48 hours.
