A ray of hope for Shanghai in the fight against Covid-19

Reuters news agency reported that electric vehicle company Tesla Inc resumed production at its Shanghai factory on April 19 after suspending operations for more than three weeks. The company is on the list of 666 businesses prioritized by the Chinese government to reopen or resume operations in Shanghai.

Strict lockdown measures following the outbreak of Covid-19 in early March have left 25 million people struggling with loss of income, erratic food supplies, separated families and isolation conditions. terrible.

On April 20, Shanghai city health official Wu Qianyu released a positive report during his daily press conference. “Recently, the epidemic situation in the city has tended to decrease, the number of roads and towns recording more than 100 infections/day has decreased for 3 consecutive days. The spread in the community has been effectively controlled. fruit” – quoted Ms. Wu.

The epidemic situation in Shanghai is on a downward trend. Photo: Reuters

While 16.3 million people are still not allowed to leave their homes, another 7.85 million can go to factories or go out, up 2 million from last week. However, some people with less restrictions on movement said they still had to get permission from the neighborhood authorities to go out, but failed.

According to Ms. Wu, this trend has led to a significant reduction in the number of people residing in “locked down areas” where the strictest travel bans are enforced.

On April 19, Shanghai recorded 16,407 new asymptomatic infections, down from 17,332 the previous day. The number of symptomatic cases was 2,494, a decrease of nearly 600 cases. City officials said 14 patients died on April 18 and 19. In total, Shanghai has recorded 17 deaths since the latest outbreak began.

However, many residents said that a family member had died after contracting Covid-19 since early March, but these cases have not been included in the official statistics. The Shanghai municipal government did not respond to questions about the death toll.

Sources told Reuters that Shanghai aims to prevent the spread of Covid-19 outside of quarantine areas by April 20.