Setback for Shanghai’s COVID-19 Battle; Beijing Focus on Mass Testing

A person wearing a protective mask walks in a hutong alley in Beijing, China, on April 30, 2022. (Yew Lun Tian/Reuters)

SHANGHAI/BEIJING—China’s commercial capital of Shanghai was dealt a blow on Monday as authorities reported new COVID-19 cases outside quarantine areas while Beijing pressed on with testing millions of its people.

Tough coronavirus measures in Shanghai have stirred rare public anger, with millions of the city’s 25 million people confined indoors for more than a month, some sealed inside fenced off residential compounds, and many struggling to secure daily necessities.

Shanghai residents breathed a sigh of relief at the weekend on news that no cases had been confirmed outside quarantine areas for two days, but bad news came on Monday with the report of the 58 new infections.

China reported 7,822 new COVID-19 cases and 32 new deaths on Sunday, the National Health Commission said on Monday. All of China’s 32 new deaths were in Shanghai.

The actual number of COVID-19 cases and deaths may be much higher. China’s COVID-19 data is difficult to verify, as the Chinese regime routinely suppresses or alters information.

New Focus on Beijing

China’s COVID-19 policy looks increasingly bizarre to much of the outside world, where many governments have eased restrictions, or thrown them off altogether, in a bid to “live with COVID.”

The Chinese regime has given no hint of deviating from its “zero-COVID” policy despite a mounting toll on the economy, and the ripples of disruption traveling out through global supply chains.

In the capital, home to 22 million people, authorities tighten COVID-19 restrictions over the five-day Labor Day holiday that runs through Wednesday, traditionally one the busiest tourist seasons.

Beijing, with dozens of daily infections in an outbreak now entering two weeks, has not locked down, instead relying, at least for now, on mass testing to locate and isolate infections.

Beijing’s restaurants are closed for dining in and some apartment blocks are sealed shut. The streets are quiet and the residents who do venture out have to show negative coronavirus tests to enter most public venues.

Authorities are tracking down close contacts of confirmed cases, warning them to stay at home and contact authorities, and calling on everyone to abide by lockdown rules.

Anger in Shanghai

Shanghai’s citywide lockdown since early April has caused worries about food and concern about being taken to crowded quarantine centers should they catch the virus.

Extreme measures taken to seal up residential compounds, including fencing up entrances of buildings, have prompted outrage.

Some residents have turned to social media to vent their frustration, some clanged pots and pans outside their windows, and others clashed with public health workers.

The song “Do you hear the people sing?” from the musical “Les Miserables” has become a popular protest anthem. On Saturday, an online video of a Chinese orchestra playing the song, with the musicians performing from their respective homes, went viral with nearly 19,000 shares before it was blocked.