In Jingan, a major shopping district in central Shanghai, residents were ordered on Saturday May 21 to remain confined to their homes until at least Tuesday, the time to carry out a massive screening campaign for Covid-19. Shops and supermarkets must close during this period.
All exit permits distributed so far to residents to allow them to leave their homes have been suspended, neighborhood authorities said, without giving a specific reason.
The city of Shanghai had announced the “gradual” reopening of businesses from Monday, May 16. China, which has been facing its worst epidemic outbreak in two years in recent weeks, put the huge metropolis, epicenter of the contagion, under cover at the beginning of April. Some of Shanghai’s 25 million people, however, were already confined to their homes before that date.
