Despite strict lockdown measures in Shanghai, ongoing now for several weeks, the number of new cases have not decreased.
The national health authorities announced on Sunday that 24,820 infections were recorded in the city in the last 24 hours. The majority of the cases were asymptomatic.
Shanghai is in the middle of a new wave of coronavirus infections, the largest the country has seen since the pandemic began two years ago.
Many of the approximately 26 million residents have not been allowed to leave their homes for several weeks now, but the tight restrictions have had little to no effect, according to Belga news agency.
A week and a half ago, city officials reported more than 20,000 new infections per day for the first time. Since then, the number of cases has remained more or less constant.
While most parts of the world have begun easing restrictions and live with the virus as best it can together with vaccination, Beijing have stuck to its rigid zero-tolerance strategy of fighting the virus, which includes close monitoring, mass testing, and intensive contact tracing.
Currently, several Chinese cities are under partial or total lockdown. And while citizens initially accepted the authorities’ strategy, there is now a growing widespread discontent.
