Shanghai reached its second day to extinguish the new BA in its two-stage effort.2, Covid-19 strain. China has received immense backlash on its quarantining tactics, leaving many to wonder in the city government truly cared about the well-being of its people. As city authorities prepared harder for this new wave, they’ve decided to handle the outbreak by dividing the city of Shanghai roughly along the Huangpu River. This action would split Pudong’s eastern financial and industrial district to allow staggered testing.
Although it seems that the city is doing everything it can to help and diminish this outbreak, many are frustrated and are taking to Weibo (a Chinese blogging platform) to seek help for relatives, with some struggling to access medical services. Residents to the city’s west have been bulk buying in anticipation of their lockdown starting April 1. Though China is committed to its plan to control the outbreak, international experts are skeptical that lockdowns are effective in the face of a highly infectious new variant.
Many of the restrictions are getting implemented slowly but steadily getting out into place. On Monday, residents east of the Huangpu were locked down in their housing compounds but were mainly allowed to roam within the buildings. Alternatively, on Tuesday, three residents told Reuter’s that neighborhood committees told them they were no longer allowed to step outside their homes. With bulk stores like Costco gaining an extreme increase in business, they are set, along with gyms and malls, to close their doors Tuesday. Public transport in the east got shut down, and all unapproved vehicles were ordered off the streets.
In the wake of the latest wave taking the city by storm, more than 4,400 reported new daily cases had been reported. To take care of its citizens, the city government announced today that it would roll out policies to help the local economy cope with a surge in COVID-19 cases in the city, including offering refunds that will reduce firms’ tax burdens by billions in 2022.
Shanghai officials continued to give to its people, as it announced that it will “encourage financial institutions to increase credit support and reduce loan interest rates for firms involved in the food supply while providing support to the tourism, transport and exhibition industries…and internet platforms will be encouraged to lower service fees and telecom operators to provide three months’ worth of free cloud services.”
