Official says Covid \u2018spreading invisibly\u2019 within capital as Shanghai residents complain about barriers at residential buildings
\n Beijing
\nAuthorities in Beijing are on high alert for a surge in coronavirus cases amid a fresh outcry in Shanghai over buildings blockaded under China\u2019s zero Covid policy.
\nThe number of new cases in the capital rose by 22 on Sunday \u2013 all locally transmitted \u2013 compared with six the day before, according to official reports. Beijing authorities have so far not taken steps to lock down the capital, but they have ordered a number of gyms and after-school activity providers to suspend in-person classes.
\nResidents rushed to stockpile food amid rumours of tougher measures in the coming days.
\nHealth official Pang Xinghuo said preliminary observations suggested Covid had been \u201cspreading invisibly\u201d within the capital for a week, affecting \u201cschools, tour groups and many families\u201d.
\n\u201cThe risk of continued and hidden transmission is high, and the situation is grim,\u201d Tian Wei of Beijing\u2019s municipal party committee told a press briefing. \u201cThe whole city of Beijing must act immediately.\u201d
\nThe outbreak in Beijing came as Mainland China\u2019s most crucial financial hub, Shanghai, enters its fourth week of city-wide lockdown. Thirty-nine new deaths were reported on Sunday, compared with 12 the previous day and by far the most during the current outbreak.<\/p>\n
\u2018Hard isolation\u2019
\nAs the situation did not seem to have improved following three weeks of stringent lockdown in Shanghai, desperate officials erected mesh barriers outside some residential buildings on Saturday. This move \u2013 described in the official directive \u201chard isolation\u201d \u2013 sparked a fresh public outcry over a lockdown that has forced many of the city\u2019s 25 million people to stay home.
\nImages of white hazmat suit-clad workers sealing entrances of housing blocks and even closing off entire streets with 2-metre-tall green fencing went viral on social media on Saturday, prompting questions and complaints from residents.
\n\u201cIsn\u2019t this a fire hazard?\u201d said one user on the social media platform Weibo. \u201cThis is so disrespectful of the rights of the people inside, using metal barriers to enclose them like domestic animals,\u201d said another.
\nMost of the barriers appeared to have been erected around compounds designated as \u201csealed areas\u201d, which are buildings where at least one person has tested positive for Covid and so its residents are forbidden from leaving their front doors.
\nThe move from the local government, as some Shanghai residents pointed out, appeared to have contradicted an earlier advisory from China\u2019s top legislative body that was issued during the first round of Covid outbreak in March 2020.
\nIn that advisory, as was reported by state news agency, Xinhua, a spokesperson at the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People\u2019s Congress said that measures to enforce \u201chard isolation\u201d were \u201cillegal\u201d and \u201cunreasonable\u201d.
\nThe Shanghai government did not respond to a request for comment.
\nIn the past three weeks, the lockdown in Shanghai has fuelled frustration over difficulties accessing food and medical care as well as over lost wages, family separation, conditions at quarantine centres and censorship of efforts to vent online.
\nIt has also exacted a toll on the world\u2019s second-largest economy, with factory efforts to resume production disrupted by snarled supply chains and difficulties faced by locked-down residents returning to work.
\nAuthorities did not report any deaths from Covid during the first few weeks of its latest case surge, fuelling doubt among residents about the figures. It has since reported 87 fatalities from the virus, all in the past seven days.
\nNew case numbers fell slightly for Saturday, but remained in the tens of thousands. Shanghai recorded 19,657 new local asymptomatic cases, down from 20,634 a day earlier, and 1,401 symptomatic cases, down from 2,736.
\nNationwide, China reported 20,285 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases for Saturday, down from 21,423 a day earlier, with 1,580 symptomatic cases, down from 2,988.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Official says Covid \u2018spreading invisibly\u2019 within capital as Shanghai residents complain about barriers at residential buildings Beijing Authorities in Beijing are on high alert for a surge in coronavirus cases amid a fresh outcry in Shanghai over buildings blockaded under China\u2019s zero Covid policy. The number of new cases in the capital rose by 22 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1355,388,6361],"class_list":{"0":"post-257207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-beijing","9":"tag-covid","10":"tag-shanghai-blockade"},"yoast_head":"\n