The US State Department has ordered all non-essential personnel of the US consulate in Shanghai to leave the city, currently in lockdown to contain a new Covid-19 emergency. The State Department “has ordered departure due to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak” and US diplomats have expressed “concern for the safety and well-being of US citizens to officials of the People’s Republic of China.” Shanghai, the economic capital of China, faces the most serious crisis linked to the spread of the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. The Chinese authorities have confined almost all of its 25 million inhabitants and closed the people who tested positive in specific quarantine centers. It is in this context that the US State Department made its decision, at the same time issuing an “alert” for those who intend to travel to China. The State Department reported in a statement that the travel alert has increased from level 2, which the US uses to ask its citizens to “pay more attention”, to level 3, intended for situations of greater risk.
Covid, China raises another wall. Mass testing and travel banned for 27 Guangzhou cases
by Alessandra Ziniti
