Hazmat suits and panic buying: Pandemic images return to China

Hazmat suits and panic buying: Pandemic images return to China

SHANGHAI: A Shanghai pedestrian swarmed by hazmat-clad health officials, police tape wrapped around entire blocks, and panic buying at a Shenzhen shopping centre: China is returning to virus controls many hoped it had long left behind. The country is facing its worst COVID-19 outbreak since the first wave of the pandemic emerged in Wuhan in late 2019.

While the daily caseload is comparatively small, around 5,300 were recorded yesterday, the Omicron variant is shaking Beijing’s “zero-COVID” strategy-and that means the return of mass testing and tough restrictions on movement. Shanghai’s famous waterfront, usually buzzing with tourists and locals, fell quiet this week as authorities moved to stamp out a rise in COVID cases in China’s biggest city. Just a handful of masked pedestrians snapped pictures of the skyline as workers were told to stay home, students turned to online classes, and restaurant dining was banned in some districts.

Instead of an all-out lockdown-imposed in other cities across China during a recent virus resurgence-Shanghai restrictions were targeted at squashing clusters in specific zones. But that has left residents picking through a web of local edicts. “We were informed last night to suspend (dine-in service) and we’ll obey, otherwise we would have to shut down