Shanghai lockdown tests limits of Xi’s zero Covid-19 policy

 

Shanghai lockdown tests limits of Xi’s  zero Covid-19 policy

As the financial powerhouse battles to control infections, its 25 million people and the country’s economy are paying a high price.

Strict pandemic measures across the country could cost US$46 billion per month in lost economic output as social acceptance also wears thin.

Soon after midnight on Thursday, a group of 7,500 medical staff boarded buses in Jiangsu province, on a round trip to Shanghai around 300km (186 miles) away, a total journey time of 12 hours.

They arrived at the stricken metropolis in the early hours, donned protection suits and spent the day swabbing the throats of hundreds of thousands of residents for Covid-19, before starting the long drive home that evening.

Similar journeys were made by more than 30,000 other medical staff from at least 15 provinces to help the city carry out mass testing of its 25 million people, currently enduring the largest effort to control the virus since it was first reported in Wuhan two years ago.