SHANGHAI | A senior Shanghai official conceded on Thursday that the Chinese economic capital was “insufficiently prepared” for the current Covid epidemic outbreak, which is forcing the city to phase in its 25 million inhabitants.
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The metropolis is facing its worst wave of contamination since the start of the epidemic. The Omicron variant is putting a strain on the national “zero Covid” strategy which aims to do everything to prevent new cases.
Shanghainese living in the eastern part of the city (Pudong) have been confined to their homes since Monday and undergoing general screening. This confinement will last until Friday, when the west (Puxi) will then be put under a bell jar.
The news was announced Sunday evening around 9 p.m., causing an influx of residents into the shops to stock up on fresh produce. With the demand, the price of vegetables has jumped.
If the logistics of containment work well overall, Shanghainese complain of not being able to access hospitals, for lack of obtaining authorization to leave their home or of being able to present a negative Covid test.
At least two patients requiring dialysis and a person with asthma have died, according to messages from relatives posted on social networks.
Faced with the discontent, a senior official of the town hall, Ma Chunlei, conceded Thursday according to an official statement that “in the face of the sharp increase in the number of infected people, our preparations were insufficient”.
He said authorities were bolstering their stocks of testing materials, building quarantine centers and setting up beds.
“We accept criticism with humility and do our best to improve.”
The Health Ministry reported more than 5,600 new positive cases in Shanghai on Thursday – the vast majority asymptomatic.
Several fairgrounds in the city have been converted into quarantine centers. Videos released by the media show countless rows of beds and partitions set up in large halls.
Rap
In western Shanghai, general confinement will not begin until Friday. But the residence of Dong Jun, a resident of this part of the city, was confined as of Wednesday after the discovery of a case.
“I have got into the habit of constantly filling my fridge since the previous confinements. But I was still taken by surprise when I learned when I woke up that confinement had been decided, ”he explains to AFP.
“It’s a bit of a hassle to maintain a stock of basic necessities.”
But confinement can also rhyme with humor.
Three local rappers, singing in the Shanghainese dialect, have composed a humorous song with a clip where they talk about the food rush and the screenings. Viral, it has already been shared by millions of Internet users.
The Minister of Health called for the continuation of the zero Covid strategy, based on prevention, because even a low mortality rate would, according to him, lead to many deaths in the Chinese population (1.4 billion inhabitants).
“No country has a health system capable of coping with such numbers,” Ma Xiaowei said in a statement released Wednesday.