Shanghai begins mass COVID-19 testing again in fear of another widespread lockdown

July 5. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Chinese city of Shanghai has started a new round of massive tests for COVID-19 on Tuesday, fearing that the megacity of 25 million inhabitants could suffer a generalized confinement similar to the one it already experienced for two months to contain this year an outbreak of coronavirus.

The authorities have notified new infections in recent days and, between this Tuesday and Thursday, they will test the entire population of nine of the 16 neighborhoods, as well as partially in three other districts. They want to “identify and prevent the risks of an outbreak as soon as possible,” in the words of the local government, according to the Bloomberg agency.

China maintains a ‘zero cases’ policy, at the cost of imposing harsh restrictions as soon as COVID-19 cases start to skyrocket. In the case of Shanghai, positives have been reported outside the establishments established for quarantine and there is already a place in the Putuo neighborhood classified as high risk.

The Asian giant shows no signs of changing its current health policy, for which Chinese President Xi Jinping has publicly advocated. Last week, the president opted to “temporarily” weigh down economic development with the aim of protecting the health of the population, “especially the elderly and children.”

Among the current sources of concern is the province of Anhui, specifically the Sixian area. This area corresponds to more than 200 cases of COVID-19 notified on Monday –52 of them corresponding to patients with symptoms–, official media report.