On Friday Topping 1,600 cases forced authorities to escalate restrictions that many feared would plunge the Chinese financial hub into a city-wide lockdown.
The Shanghai Health Commission said there were 1,609 new infections, a record in the city of about 25 million people, including 1,580 without any symptoms.
Frustrated residents are struggling to secure fresh food as some compounds refuse to let them leave, while accessing medical care gets harder as select hospitals prioritize Covid patients and shut out-patient services.
Scores of buildings and apartment blocks remained locked down for testing amid the growing outbreak, part of a wave that’s challenging China’s zero-tolerance approach as the rest of the world is abolishing pandemic restrictions.
While the country is still deploying measures like hardcore lockdowns in some areas, residents in the entire province of Jilin, in China’s northeast, are confined to their homes.
The spread of the highly transmissible omicron strain to China’s most economically significant hubs has prompted a pivot to more targeted approaches.
The situation exposes the hurdles officials face in implementing President Xi Jinping’s dual goals of eliminating the virus and minimizing the economic and social impacts of the Covid Zero strategy.
The financial hub plans to use stadiums and exhibition centers to quarantine people with mild and asymptomatic infections, with facilities in Jiading and Minhang districts already revamped for that purpose.
Pudong Shangri-La, a luxury hotel located in the heart of the city’s financial district, started serving as a quarantine hotel this week, according to hotel staff.
Shanghai officials have ruled out a broad lockdown, though some parts of the city will be sealed off and further tested.
