Official admits Shanghai not prepared enough for latest outbreak

SHANGHAI • A top Shanghai official conceded yesterday that the Chinese financial hub had been "insufficiently prepared" for its latest Covid-19 outbreak, as criticism mounts over lockdowns that have caught residents off guard.

The eastern megacity of 25 million has been split in two as part of a rolling lockdown plan to battle China's worst coronavirus outbreak in two years. The spread of the Omicron variant is testing the country's "dynamic clearance" strategy, which aims to crush virus clusters as soon as they emerge.

Residents in the eastern half of Shanghai have been confined to their homes since Monday and subjected to testing. With restrictions extending to the more populated western half today, the city government yesterday said the lockdown in the eastern areas will not be fully lifted today.

The curbs, which kicked in hours after being announced on Sunday evening, spurred panic-buying at supermarkets and sent vegetable prices surging.

Public transport in the areas west of the Huangpu River was set to be shut and residents locked into their homes from 3am today.

In central Shanghai, vegetable sellers and butchers hawked their wares from behind barriers set up ahead of the lockdown and on sidewalks. Restaurants advertised their stock at deep discounts through online chatgroups, hoping to ease some of their losses.

Yesterday, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai government Ma Chunlei made a rare admission of failure, saying in a statement that the authorities were "insufficiently prepared for the substantial increase in infected people".

"We sincerely accept everyone's criticism and are working hard to improve," he said, adding that the city was beefing up its resources for Covid-19 testing and isolation.

Puxi resident Dong Jun said his district was unexpectedly placed under lockdown on Wednesday, two days ahead of the official start.

"I've been keeping my fridge full because of my previous experience of lockdown, but it still caught me off guard when I woke up and heard a lockdown was announced," he said.

Residents complained online about a lack of food, problems accessing medical services, and fears that positive cases were not being transferred out of residential buildings quickly enough.

In one case, an asthma patient died after allegedly being refused medical services. Several exhibition halls have been converted into mass quarantine centres.Shanghai reported more than 5,600 positive cases yesterday, most of them asymptomatic.

Mr Ma said the authorities were "speeding up the transfer and isolation of infected people, minimising the time they remain in the community". He cautioned the lockdown of Shanghai's western half will involve a larger group of about 16 million people and asked for patience. "Regular life will surely return soon," he said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS