A COVID-19 outbreak has reoccurred in Shanghai in recent days, with multiple confirmed local cases. From Nov. 25 to Nov. 26, more than 20 hospitals were shut down in the city, with many local hospitals also suspending emergency services.
Three of the four newly confirmed local cases in China reported on Nov. 25 were in Shanghai, and one was reported in the city of Dalian in Liaoning province. The three patients in Shanghai had all visited Suzhou in nearby Jiangsu province. Both the city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province and the city of Xuzhou in Jiangsu have also reported new cases, all of whom had dinner with the confirmed patients in Shanghai.
Shanghai has tightened its pandemic control measures. On Nov. 26, more than 30 percent of flights at Shanghai Pudong International Airport and nearby Xuzhou Guanyin International Airport were canceled.
The Shanghai City Bus and Shanghai Long-Distance Passenger Terminal also have suspended many long-distance services to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, while interprovincial travel businesses have been told to halt their services.
Mainland Chinese media reported that from Nov. 25 to Nov. 26, nine major hospitals in Shanghai announced that they had received a notice from their managing governmental departments to assist in the investigation of the COVID-19 outbreak and to immediately suspend outpatient and emergency medical services. The hospitals include Ruijin Hospital, affiliated with Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine; Zhongshan Hospital, affiliated with Fudan University; Minhang District Central Hospital; Tongji Hospital; Hongqiao District of Huashan Hospital; Putuo District People’s Hospital; Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, affiliated with Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine; Xinhua Hospital; and Shanghai Dermatology Hospital.
The sudden shutdown of Shanghai’s major hospitals after only three new cases were confirmed by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials has raised suspicion. Netizens are asking why so many hospitals are closed.
“Where did the patient 1 in Shanghai go from Nov. 15 to Nov. 19? Why has it been covered up during this period?” one post reads.
“Nine hospitals are closed and patients who need emergency treatment have nowhere to go. The Shanghai medical system is nearly half paralyzed. There is no explanation,” another post reads.
“Then why do so many hospitals need to be shut down? The questions that the people really care about have not been answered!” another netizen wrote.
By the evening of Nov. 26, the CCP’s official media, the “People’s Daily,” reported that more than 20 hospitals had been shut in Shanghai.
In response to growing questions and speculation from the community, Lu Taohong, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, said the three confirmed cases were neither medical staff nor hospital-related business personnel. He said one of them is a financial officer of a pharmaceutical company and has no direct business contact with the hospitals. He also said the three COVID-19 patients were on a trip to Suzhou, mainly to attend a lecture on ancient architecture. But among the dozen people who attended the dinner after the lecture, one was a doctor working in a hospital.
The statement from authorities hasn’t convinced netizens about the situation in Shanghai’s hospitals or how the outbreak started, with one person accusing the CCP of continuing to cover up what was happening with the outbreak.
“Their story is getting more and more unbelievable,” the netizen wrote.
Another netizen said of the situation in the CCP’s China, “You can’t believe what the so-called experts say at all. They never tell the truth.”
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