Covid Digest: Shanghai Starts China’s Biggest Lockdown since 2020

KOMPAS.com - China began its largest coronavirus lockdown in two years, as millions of people in the financial hub of Shanghai are to be confined to their homes starting Monday, March 28 to curb an ongoing outbreak of Covid-19.

Shanghai, China’s largest city with 26 million people, had previously managed smaller outbreaks with limited lockdowns of housing compounds and workplaces. The citywide lockdown will be China's most extensive since the virus first broke out in Wuhan.

SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in the central city in late 2019, which led to the confinement of its 11 million people for 76 days in early 2020.

Also read: China Records Largest Increase of Covid-19 Cases since Pandemic Began

Authorities said the two-phase lockdown of Shanghai will be used to carry out mass testing.

In the first phase, the sprawling eastern district known as Pudong has been placed under confinement. The area will remain under lockdown till Friday, after which the more-populated western Puxi section will be placed under lockdown.

The city has seen regular spikes of Covid-19 infections, with another record high of 3,500 cases reported on Monday.

Here are the latest major developments on coronavirus from around the world:

Europe

Germany has recorded around 9,000 politically motivated crimes linked to Covid-19 in 2021, according to the country’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).

"A large part of this movement is apparently less about the individual coronavirus measures than the question of whether this constitutional democracy is the right system," BKA President Holger Münch told the German publishing group Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND).

Also read: China Coast Guard Blocks Philippine Boats in South China Sea

Middle East

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has tested positive for the coronavirus, his office announced Monday. Bennett’s positive test comes soon after he met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jerusalem on Sunday.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of a "historic summit" of Israeli and Arab diplomats. The US State Department has said Blinken will take a coronavirus test.

Bennett’s office said he “is feeling well and will continue his schedule as planned from his home.”

Source: Reuters, AP, AFP