Shanghai locks down to run COVID-19 tests on all 26 million of its residents

Published by BBNTEAM at April 6, 2022

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Posted: Wednesday, April 6, 2022. 9:07 pm CST.

By Benjamin Flowers: While countries around the world, including Belize, are lifting the last of their COVID-19 restrictions, Reuters reports that Shanghai has extended a lockdown, first implemented on March 28, indefinitely in order to test all 26 million of its residents.

On Monday, April 4, authorities made the announcement that the lockdowns, which originated in Shanghai’s eastern districts, would extend to the entire city.

The city government issued a notice via its official WeChat account saying that it will, “continue to implement seal and control management and strictly implement ‘staying at home’, except for medical treatment,” the city government said on its official WeChat account.

Reports are that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) deployed over 2,000 military medical personnel from the army, navy, and joint logistics support forces to Shanghai, who will work in tandem with another 38,000 healthcare workers from provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and the capital Beijing, to carry out the tests.

“The city has also converted multiple hospitals, gymnasiums, apartment blocks, and other venues into central quarantine sites, including the Shanghai New International Expo Center which can hold 15,000 patients at full capacity,” Reuters noted.

There have also been reports that members of the public are complaining that the quarantine centers are overcrowded and unsanitary and that it is difficult to secure food and medical assistance once in one of those facilities.

The move is being called China’s largest medical response since its initial response to the emergence of COVID-19 in the city of Wuhan back in December 2019.

On April 1, Belize updated its COVID-19 regulations, removing mask mandates for outdoors, curfews, restrictions on the number of people that can attend church services and eat at restaurants, and a myriad of other changes aimed at returning life to some state of pre-pandemic normalcy. Many businesses around the country still have signs requiring masks to enter their premises or receive service.

The Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) issued a notice yesterday, stating that while visiting hours have reverted to pre-pandemic times, the public is still required to wear masks while on the premises and sanitize their hands upon entering.

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