Shanghai
\nMillions of Shanghai residents braved sweltering heat Tuesday to wait in line for compulsory Covid tests, as growing case numbers and the emergence of a highly infectious Omicron subvariant spurred new fears of a return to mass lockdown.
\nShanghai authorities have ordered the majority of the city\u2019s 16 districts to undergo two rounds of testing from Tuesday to Thursday, after a case of the new BA.5.2.1 subvariant was detected in the community on July 8.
\nThe highly transmissible BA.5 variant is spreading rapidly worldwide and is seen as a great threat by authorities in China — the last major country adhering to a stringent zero-Covid strategy.
\nA Shanghai resident peeks through an opening in the barricade surrounding a neighborhood placed under Covid-19 lockdown on July 10.
\nNew Omicron subvariants have been reported in several Chinese cities, including the capital Beijing, the northeastern port city of Dalian, and the central city of Xi\u2019an, which was shut down for seven days over the outbreak.
\nThe rising cases — and accompanying restrictions — come as a scorching heatwave sweeps the country. In Shanghai, authorities raised the highest-level red alert Sunday as temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
\nThe stifling heat has made mass testing all the more excruciating for residents — some of whom have to queue for hours — and for Covid workers, who are covered head to toe in airtight PPE equipment.
\nA health worker puts her hands on a block of ice in front of a fan to cool off at a Covid testing station in Shanghai on July 12.
\nOn Chinese social media, photos went viral of workers in hazmat suits lying on ice blocks, while health experts warned of heatstroke among Covid workers who spend long hours outdoors in thick protective clothing.
\nShanghai saw a jump in infections earlier this month, due to an outbreak linked to a karaoke bar. Over the past 10 days, it has reported more than 400 cases.
\nThe growing outbreak has fueled fears the commercial hub is headed back into a mass lockdown, just weeks after its residents emerged from two months of grueling home confinement.
\nThe city of 25 million ended its citywide lockdown at the start of June, but has continued to impose tough restrictions, including relentless testing and snap lockdowns on compounds where Covid cases were found.
\nAs of Tuesday, 240 neighborhoods across Shanghai have been marked as medium- or high-risk areas and placed under lockdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shanghai Millions of Shanghai residents braved sweltering heat Tuesday to wait in line for compulsory Covid tests, as growing case numbers and the emergence of a highly infectious Omicron subvariant spurred new fears of a return to mass lockdown. Shanghai authorities have ordered the majority of the city\u2019s 16 districts to undergo two rounds of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271050,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-271029","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n