Foreign

Covid Spreads, Forces Schools to Go Online in China

By Web News 442

China’s largest city, Shanghai, has ordered most of its schools to take classes online as Covid cases soar.

According to Shanghai’s education bureau, Nurseries and childcare centres will also shut from Monday as restrictions were eased by Chinese authorities earlier this month following a wave of protests targeting China’s zero-Covid strategy.

But the easing of strict lockdown measures has led to growing concerns over the spread of Covid in China.

Significant changes in the country’s Covid testing and reporting systems have made it difficult to know just how widespread the virus has become.

But hospitals and medical facilities have come under increasing strain, with temporary health centres and intensive care facilities being set up across the country.

In Shanghai, it has been reported that an extra 230,000 hospital beds have been made available.

Some schools in the city have also already stopped in-person classes because teachers and staff are ill.

In a statement posted on the Chinese social media site WeChat on Saturday, Shanghai’s education bureau announced that most year groups in primary and secondary schools would move to online learning from Monday.

Students and children who do not have alternative childcare arrangements can apply to attend school.

The statement said the measures were being put in place in order to protect the health of teachers and students in line with current coronavirus prevention measures.

The decision means that schools in the country’s financial hub will be closed for in-person learning until the end of term on 18 January, when the Lunar New Year holiday starts.

Some Chinese social media users praised the decision, agreeing that it was best that students stay at home. Others complained about the efficacy of online learning in relation to in-person teaching and the extra strains put on working parents.

Following the abandonment of its zero-Covid strategy, there has been an explosion of self-reported cases across the country, with many cities eerily quiet as large numbers of people isolated at home, either sick with Covid or trying to avoid becoming infected, reports the BBC’s Celia Hatton.

There are concerns that China’s health infrastructure is not prepared to cope with a rapid increase in patients – especially as Covid spreads among the elderly, many of whom are not fully vaccinated.

BBC/Taiwo Akinola

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Foreign

COVID-19: Shanghai to Allow Dining-in at Restaurants from June 29

By Web News 473

Shanghai will gradually resume indoor dinning as the Chinese city continues its recovery from its latest COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdown, which was lifted on June 1.

The local commerce authority made the announcement on Sunday during a regular press conference on COVID-19 control, saying that indoor dinning can be resumed starting June 29. It added that the resumption must be conducted in an ordered manner.

The specific areas for the resumption will be determined by the district authorities after comprehensive assessment, said Lai Xiaoyi, a local official.

The authority listed six requirements that restaurants must meet to reopen, including official evaluation, capacity limits, strict disinfection and digital entrance control, among others.

The decision to reopen was made based on experts’ opinions, the current COVID-19 situation in the city and the experiences gathered from the recent mass testing in Jinshan, Fengxian and Chongming districts.

CGTN/Olaolu Fawole

Foreign

Shanghai tightens Covid-19 lockdown restrictions

By Web News 494

Authorities in Shanghai have said they will tighten the enforcement of lockdown measures, as a Covid surge continues in China’s financial capital.

New measures include placing electronic door alarms to prevent those infected from leaving, as well as evacuating people to disinfect their homes.

Earlier this week, hundreds were forcibly evacuated from their homes to allow for buildings to be disinfected.

The restrictions will take Shanghai’s lockdown into its fifth week.

Shanghai city officials said all infected patients and close contacts will be transferred to government-run centralised quarantine, with aims to quicken the pace at which patients are discharged once negative.

In addition, disinfection measures will be escalated in some of the city’s worst-hit areas. This will likely mean some residents are forced to move out temporarily – including those who have tested negative.

Officials are still trying to maintain the country’s zero-Covid strategy which prioritises eliminating the virus over living with it as many countries have now chosen to do.

The outbreak in Shanghai, first detected in late March, has seen more than 400,000 cases recorded so far.

As a result, the city’s 25 million people have been ordered to stay home.

BBC/Taiwo Akinola