A woman who had visited Shanghai Disneyland in recent days has tested positive for covid. As a result, 19,000 visitors were locked in the theme park for hours on Monday. No one would leave the compound until a negative PCR was done. It is the second time in a year that the authorities of the eastern Chinese megalopolis have taken these drastic measures following the zero covid policy. A similar lockdown took place on Halloween night last year inside the complex, which had to close again during the severe confinement of more than two months that affected the city last spring.
In response to questions from users, the official account through which the Shanghai government publishes information on the WeChat social network said that "at 10:30 p.m. on Monday, all visitors to the parquet had left safely." They were held for more than ten hours, since the closure was decreed at noon.
Marvis He was one of the Disney park guests affected by the resort's closure, having flown in from Shenzhen in the southeast hoping to catch the park's Halloween fireworks. "I feel disappointed, we have waited so long in the park, (...) but we could not see anything and we could only go out at 10 at night," she told Reuters when leaving the complex. "Besides, we were cold and hungry," added her companion. The images spread on the networks show the desperation of the visitors who ran in vain towards the doors to escape the closure.
The authorities specified that all the tests, both on people and on materials and facilities in the park, had been negative, and announced that measures had been taken to disinfect some areas of the enclosure. The Shanghai authorities specified that the infected person had been in the park and in two restaurants, and they have already transferred more than 700 "close contacts" to quarantine facilities.
However, the consequences of the event did not end with the massive testing of the almost 20,000 visitors on Monday, because all those who have visited Disneyland since last October 27 must undergo daily PCR tests until Thursday, which implies more than 400,000 people.
At the moment there is still no official date for the reopening of the complex; the last time, Disneyland Shanghai was closed for more than three months, reopening at the end of June. However, the current situation is very different: on March 21, the day of the aforementioned closure, the official Shanghai case report reported 758 cases (734 of them asymptomatic), while Monday's report had 24 positives, of which 19 show no symptoms.
The outbreaks of recent months, caused by the contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus, caused infection figures not seen since the first throes of the pandemic, at the beginning of 2020. Discomfort increased in the Chinese shopping center in Shanghai, while throughout The country's daily local case count reached 2,719, a small figure by global standards but the highest in China since August 17.
In recent days, several cities -including the capitals of provinces such as Henan, Canton or Qinghai- have decreed confinements that, once again, leave news such as citizens asking for help on the internet because they are running out of food or reporting the death of older people who stop receiving the care they need due to the closure of their housing estates.
While much of the world has opened up, China has pledged to uphold its zero-tolerance approach to Covid, with lockdowns and mass testing imposed when a single case is detected, and has shown little sign of paving the way for it. begin to soften the measures. Despite the growing weariness among the population due to the restrictions, the national authorities insist that their policy against the coronavirus is the "most economical and scientific", and they assure that it has saved millions of lives.
Gavekal Dragonomics analyst Ernan Cui wrote in a note Tuesday that China is facing the most serious challenge to its containment policy in months, after more than 80% of major cities reported cases last month.
According to the expert, the risk of lockdowns like the one that paralyzed Shanghai in the spring is at its highest point since May. "Without a clear end to the country's strict containment policy, tighter lockdowns and more supply disruptions seem inevitable in the coming months," he wrote.
Nomura analysts consulted by Reuters estimated that lockdowns and restrictions occurred in 28 cities last week, affecting almost 208 million people, or 8.5% of China's GDP.
