China Cases Fall, Shanghai Marks, Covid Battle, COVID-19 cases, Beijing, President Xi Jinping, Shanghai, Zhao Dandan, deputy director of Shanghai, Watershed Moment
As China Cases Fall, Shanghai Marks a Watershed Moment in the Covid Battle
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On Friday, Shanghai said it detected no new COVID-19 cases outside quarantine areas, marking an important milestone in the city’s battle to contain the virus, which has paralyzed the 25-million-person city and has Beijing scrambling to avert a similar crisis. Scenes of homes and buildings in China’s most populous city being caged to keep residents from fleeing have made international headlines in recent weeks, at a time when most other major cities around the world are learning to live with coronavirus.
Some residents have been cooped up at home for more than a month, causing anger and frustration, and have struggled to find food and other daily necessities, as well as demonstrating rare public opposition to the government’s stringent controls.

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However, if the campaign is successful, it will be a victory for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s zero-tolerance approach to COVID-19 in a year when he is expected to secure a record-breaking third term.

Although Shanghai city officials did not mention the achievement during their daily news conference, it was celebrated on Chinese social media, with the topic ‘Shanghai sees zero-COVID transmission at the local level’ receiving more than 190,000 views on the Weibo platform on Saturday morning.

“At the community level, Shanghai has finally reached zero!!! May Shanghai rouse itself as soon as possible!! “said one netizen in a post.
“We’re hoping to be released after the May holiday,” said another.

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In Shanghai, there were no cases outside quarantine areas on Friday, compared to 108 on Thursday. After halting transmission outside quarantine areas, other Chinese cities under lockdown began to relax restrictions.

However, some questioned the significance of the occasion, pointing out that the majority of Shanghai’s residents were subjected to some form of quarantine.

On Saturday, health officials reported that there were nearly 16,000 sealed-off areas in Shanghai, with more than 4 million people unable to leave their homes. Another 5.4 million people have been barred from leaving their compounds.

The city’s epidemic and prevention control is still critical, and the trend is that people need to tighten controls,” said Zhao Dandan, deputy director of Shanghai’s health commission. “Let us all cling to this hard-won level of defense we’ve achieved.”

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The battle to control the highly transmissible Omicron variant in Shanghai has cost the economy, businesses, and people, while delivery companies have been overwhelmed and logistic chains have been clogged by the restrictions.

Shanghai city officials, who say they are eager for manufacturers to reopen, also stated that 80 percent of an initial white list of 666 prioritised companies had resumed production, and that a second list of 1,188 firms had been created.