COVID lockdowns may be nonexistent in the US these days, but not so in China: Its biggest city, Shanghai, begins a massive shutdown on Monday that will play out in two phases, reports CNBC. Those who live of east of the Huangpu River, which divides the city, will be shut down from Monday through Friday. At that point, the lockdown shifts to those who live west of the river. Shanghai has about 26 million residents and is a vital financial hub for China, meaning worldwide ripples will likely be evident, per the Wall Street Journal. The shutdown is China's biggest in two years and comes as the nation battles its largest surge in cases since the pandemic began.
China reported about 5,700 new infections on Saturday, with roughly half of them in Shanghai. However, nearly all of the cases in Shanghai (except for 45) involved asymptomatic patients. The lockdown will be conducted in tandem with mass testing, per the AP. Tesla has a plant in the city that falls under the first phase of the lockdown, and the company is complying with orders to suspend operations, reports Bloomberg. The AP notes that China's vaccination rate is 87%, though it's notably lower among the elderly. (More Shanghai stories.)
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