Beijing/Shanghai. Authorities in Shanghai are tightening the Covid-19 lockdown they imposed more than a month ago, prolonging until the end of May an ordeal that China’s capital Beijing is desperate to avoid by turning mass testing into a near practice. daily.
The Shanghai shopping mall, which last week carried out 63 million PCR tests and 126 million rapid antigen tests on its 25 million inhabitants, will also continue daily tests in the coming days, city authorities said.
Regular testing will become a feature of daily life as authorities hope it can help detect and isolate infections early to avoid mass lockdowns and movement restrictions.
Tight restrictions imposed in Beijing, Shanghai and dozens of other major Chinese cities are having a psychological toll on their residents, weighing on the world’s second-largest economy and disrupting supply chains and international trade.
Authorities in some districts issued notices ordering people to return to their residential compounds after letting them out for short walks or quick shopping.