After Just Ten Days Of Lifting, Shanghai Returns To Lockdown For Millions Of Citizens For Mass COVID-19 Tests

Illustrated COVID-19 in Shanghai, China. (Wikimedia Commons /)

JAKARTA - Just ten days out of a two-month strict lockdown that has unsettled citizens and worried for businesses, Shanghai authorities in China are set to re-lock millions of its residents for mass COVID-19 tests this weekend.

Racing to stop a wider outbreak after discovering several community cases, including clusters traced to a popular beauty salon, authorities have ordered PCR testing of all residents in 14 of Shanghai's 16 districts over the weekend.

Five districts said residents would not be allowed to leave their homes while testing was being carried out. The notice issued by the Changning District described the stay-at-home requirement as 'closed management' of the sampled community.

The latest scare sparked a rush to grocery stores and online platforms to buy food, as Weibo users such as Twitter in China expressed fear they could be locked in for longer. Meanwhile, they only started working again after the lockdown was lifted last June 1.

Some areas remain closed or quickly re-locked due to infection and their close contact.

"The housing complex next to the mine has been locked down. If there is a mass test and there are other positive cases in the complex, it will have a serious impact on our lives," said Zhang Jian, a 34-year-old real estate agent.

Even though China has a low rate of COVID-19 infection by global standards, President Xi Jinping is relying on a zero-COVID policy that authorities say is necessary to protect the elderly and the medical system, as other countries try to live with the virus.

Mainland China reported 151 cases of the new coronavirus for June 9, of which 45 were symptomatic and 106 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Friday.

The latest round of mass testing comes on top of the tough testing requirements that Shanghai has imposed on its 25 million residents, after easing previous lockdowns.

Residents must prove that they have been tested in the last 72 hours to enter areas such as malls and offices, or even to use subways and buses. Many have become frustrated with the prospect of queuing for hours to be tested.