'Situation Extremely Grim': China Extends Lockdown In Shanghai After Fresh Surge In Covid Caseload

Director of Shanghai’s working group on epidemic control, Gu Honghui said, "The situation is extremely grim."

People wearing PPE as they transfer daily food supplies and necessities for local residents (File photo: AFP)

New Delhi: Amid the surge in the number of Covid cases, China has extended Lockdown in the largest metropolis of Shanghai and the situation remains “extremely grim”, a  city official said Tuesday as reported by news agency AP.

The Director of Shanghai’s working group on epidemic control, Gu Honghui said, "The situation is extremely grim."

In China's financial center Shanghai, residents were seen struggling for food items on Wednesday. Under the Lockdown, two crore 60 lakh people have been locked in their homes. All supermarkets in the city have been closed and the supply of essential goods has been banned amid Coronavirus testing.

Shanghai has had the highest infection spread since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The local government said on Wednesday it would not consider lifting restrictions until all samples were taken and their results evaluated.

“Before that, citizens are asked to continue following the current lockdown measures and stay in their homes except for medical and other emergency situations,” Gu said.

Many buildings have already been closed for more than two weeks. Local residents have become upset and frustrated about the restrictions.

Record-breaking cases have been reported in the city for the fifth consecutive day. The number of newly infected patients has come to the fore in a single day. Since March 1, the total number of infected patients has crossed 94,000. 

Shanghai has overtaken Wuhan in terms of the number of infected patients. On 12 February 2020, 13,436 new corona-infected patients were reported in Wuhan. This was the biggest single-day record. But now this record has also been broken by the number of cases in Shanghai. On Tuesday, 311 positive cases have been reported in the city and 16,766 asymptomatic cases have been reported. Antigen test was done on a large scale in the city on Sunday.