Shanghai’s Community Covid Spread Damps Prospect of Easing Curbs
2022.05.12 06:01
Shanghai’s Community Covid Spread Damps Prospect of Easing Curbs
(Bloomberg) — Shanghai continued to find Covid-19 cases in the community Wednesday, damping prospects for an easing of a a punishing lockdown that has hampered business activity and confined millions of people to their homes for more than a month.
Shanghai reported a total of 1,449 new Covid cases for Wednesday, down slightly from 1,487 on Tuesday. While the daily total has steadily fallen, two cases were found in the community Wednesday, CCTV reported, after none were detected on Tuesday. Shanghai officials have said that three days of zero community transmission is required before they can start to ease restrictions.
It’s uncertain if the city can hit the three-day target. It managed two days with zero community spread at the end of April, only for cases to rebound.
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Meanwhile in Beijing, authorities remain on alert for any signs of omicron bypassing curbs to seed new community clusters. Despite a strict work-from-home order for a large swath of the city of 22 million, the closure of entertainment centers and a ban on dining-in at restaurants citywide, new infections continue to emerge in the community. That has led authorities to seal off more compounds and close banks and other venues.
The capital reported 46 cases for Wednesday, CCTV said, up from 37 on Tuesday.
Read more: China Risks Virus ‘Tsunami’ If Covid Zero Abandoned: Study
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