Shanghai reports record asymptomatic Covid-19 cases as half the city locks down

SHANGHAI (REUTERS) - China's financial hub of Shanghai reported a record 3,450 asymptomatic Covid-19 cases and 50 symptomatic cases on March 27, the city government said on its official WeChat account on Monday (March 28) as half of the city went into lockdown.

That compared with 2,631 new asymptomatic cases and 47 new cases with symptoms reported a day earlier.

Shanghai on Sunday announced a two-stage lockdown of the city of 25 million people to carry out Covid-19 testing over a nine-day period.

The Chinese mainland meanwhile reported 1,219 locally transmitted Covid-19 cases on Sunday, the National Health Commission's Monday report showed.

They include Shanghai's 50 symptomatic cases. Elsewhere in the country, 1,086 were reported in Jilin, 12 in Liaoning and 10 in Heilongjiang.

The rest of the cases were reported in 14 provincial-level regions, according to the commission.

A total of 56 imported Covid-19 cases were reported on Sunday, said the commission. It added that six suspected cases, all arriving from outside the mainland, were reported in Shanghai as well.

Covid-19 cases in Shanghai kept hitting records in the past week, though a vast majority are asymptomatic.

The city has become China's biggest virus hot spot, and on Sunday Shanghai announced a two-stage lockdown to carry out Covid-19 testing over a nine-day period from March 28 to April 5.

At 5am on Monday, the city of 25 million people locked down areas east of the Huangpu River, which includes its financial district and industrial parks, for four days. The lockdown then shifts to the other half of the city, in the west, for another four days, according to a statement on Sunday from the local government.

Residents will be barred from leaving home and public transport and car-hailing services will be suspended, while private cars will not be allowed on the roads unless necessary, the statement said. It also stressed that citizens’ emergency medical needs must be guaranteed.

US automaker Tesla said it is suspending production at its factory in the city for four days, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The factory is in an area of Shanghai impacted by the first stage of the lockdown.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, however, said operations at its Shanghai factories were normal.

The phased lockdown is the biggest Covid-19-related disruption to hit the city so far. It also marks a turnaround for the local government, which last week expressly denied Shanghai would be locked down as it pursued a more piecemeal “slicing and gridding” approach to try to prevent infections from spreading.

Shanghai residents complained on Monday morning that insufficient notice was given for the lockdown and expressed fears about acquiring essentials.

Dr Wu Fan, a member of Shanghai’s expert Covid-19 team, told a briefing on Monday recent mass testing had found “large scale” infections throughout the city, triggering a stronger response.

“Containing the large scale outbreak in our city is very important because once infected people are put under control, we have blocked transmission,” she said, adding that testing would be carried out until all hidden risks are eliminated.

That said, Shanghai's airports, railway stations, freight transportation will operate normally during the mass testing, said Dr Wu Jinglei, the director of the Shanghai Health Commission, at the news conference.