China on Monday shut down the Disneyland amusement park in Shanghai as the city registered a record surge in coronavirus cases, reported Reuters.
Shanghai recorded 24 symptomatic new locally-transmitted Covid-19 cases and 734 asymptomatic infections on Sunday, government data showed. It is the fourth consecutive day when Shanghai’s local asymptomatic infections have risen.
Shanghai has suspended bus services into the city and made it mandatory for visitors to produce a negative coronavirus test report, according to the Associated Press. However, the city has avoided imposing a shutdown and instead urged its residents to stay home.
The city authorities have also shut down schools and are conducting mass testing for the coronavirus disease.
China is experiencing its worst coronavirus outbreak since the pandemic first began in late 2019. The surge in cases is driven by the Omicron variant of Covid-19, which was first detected in November last year. On March 19, China had reported two Covid-19 deaths, the first fatalities due to the disease in the country since January 2021.
While the coronavirus case tally in China is comparatively lower as compared to global infection count, Beijing follows a “zero tolerance” policy for the disease, enforcing strict lockdowns, conducting mass testing and imposing travel bans.
On Sunday, China recorded 2,027 new cases in the mainland, up from 1,737 registered a day before that. Sunday’s tally includes 1,542 infections in Jilin province, which reported the two deaths on March 19.
In view of the surge in cases, China will lock down Jilin city for three days from Monday night, reported AFP. The city, the second largest in the province, has a population of about 4.5 million, or 45 lakh.
Authorities in Jill’s province capital of Changchun had said on March 19 that they would also tighten restrictions for the next three days. Since March 11, Changchun, which has a population of nine million, or 90 lakh, has allowed its residents to go out every two days only to buy food.
New measures imposed on March 19 mean that only medical personnel and other workers engaged in frontline activities will be permitted to leave their homes.
Meanwhile, Shenzhen city administration allowed businesses and government offices to reopen from Monday. Bus and subway service, which had been suspended, have resumed.
Last week, the city that a population of 17.5 million, or 1.75 crore, had shut down all businesses except essential services and directed its inhabitants to stay home.
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