The United States on Saturday warned of “arbitrary” measures to combat the virus in China and said it would allow some of its employees to leave the consulate in Shanghai in the face of an outbreak that has kept the city’s residents confined.
Until March, China had managed to contain cases through selective confinement, mass testing and travel restrictions, but more than 100,000 cases have now been reported in Shanghai, putting to the test the strict “Covid Zero” policy advocated by Beijing.
The city of about 25 million is under a phased lockdown, which has sparked complaints about supplies shortages and videos that have gone viral among its residents skeptical of authority.
An embassy spokesperson said in a statement that the US State Department would allow non-essential staff to leave its consulate in Shanghai “due to the outbreak of Covid-19 cases and the impact of restrictions”.
The statement warned US citizens against reconsidering travel to China “due to the enforcement of arbitrary laws and restrictions related to Covid-19,” adding that the embassy in Beijing had expressed concern about the actions of the Chinese government.
This Saturday, Shanghai recorded more than 23,000 new cases of the virus, most of them asymptomatic, accounting for more than 90% of infections across the country.
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