Another day, another record: China’s Shanghai battles worsening outbreak

Shanghai, China’s financial hub, logged 19,982 fresh Covid-19 cases, including 322 symptomatic ones for Wednesday, surpassing its previous record for a sixth straight day despite a lockdown, as the ruling party issued a rare appeal to members to be present “wherever there is a need” in the city.

Overall, mainland Cjoma reported 22,995 Covid cases, which included 1,284 locally transmitted symptomatic infections.

In another first, Shanghai’s neighbouring Zhejiang province received 12,111 people who were close contacts and secondary close contacts of Shanghai Covid-19 cases as of Thursday noon, a sign of strain that the embattled metropolis ’s health infrastructure is facing.

“Zhejiang will generally undertake the transfer and isolation work of 30,000 potentially infected people,” the Zhejiang provincial epidemic prevention and control office said, adding it was being done to “strengthen the humanistic care in isolation sites, focusing on life security, medical services, mental health counselling, and personalised services”.

The ongoing Omicron-driven Covid-19 surge in China has already surpassed the peak daily number of 13,436 cases recorded on February 12, 2020, in the central Chinese city of Wuhan where the virus was first reported in late 2019.

The primary difference between the outbreaks in Shanghai and Wuhan is that while Wuhan recorded many more serious cases and deaths, in Shanghai – or for that matter in the ongoing outbreak in the rest of China – infections are milder with only two deaths being reported last month.

The Communist Party of China’s (CPC) appeal to workers, however, is a sign of the seriousness of the situation despite the fact that the vast majority of those infected remain asymptomatic or with mild symptoms.

“We must dare to draw our swords and fight against all kinds of behaviours that interfere with and undermine the overall situation of the fight against the epidemic,” the CPC Shanghai said in a social media post, adding: “Wherever there is a need, there must be a Communist Party member”.

For the CPC, it has become a problem because the outbreak has paralysed one of China’s most recognisable cities, besides Beijing, with businesses shuttered and work at high-profile MNCs like Tesla suspended because of the lockdown.

The situation on the ground is triggering frustration among the citizenry with millions already being locked down for more than two weeks, given the earlier targeted curbs.

The appeal from the CPC was made as circulating social media posts showed citizens complaining about food supplies drying up or orders not being delivered on time.

‘Chaos had broken out in sporadic areas since Shanghai’s lockdown. People jostled and fought for food at the Nanhui quarantine centre on Wednesday before authorities brought the mayhem under control,’’ a South China Morning Post (SCMP) report from Shanghai, quoting blog posts on social media, said on Thursday.

Over 60 venues, including the over 150,000-square metre Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center, have been converted into makeshift hospitals, state media reported.

In the backdrop of surging cases, China is likely to stick to its “dynamic zero-case” strategy to curb the outbreak.

Mi Feng, national health commission spokesperson, said on Wednesday, according to a state media report, that as the domestic epidemic is surging quickly and some community transmission has yet to be cut off, China should stick with its dynamic zero-case strategy, act “swiftly” and strengthen screening, testing, quarantine and treatment of cases in key epidemic regions.