The U.S. government said on Saturday (April 9) that the U.S. State Department approved non-emergency U.S. government employees and family members of emergency and non-emergency U.S. government employees from the U.S. Voluntary evacuation from the consular area of the Shanghai Consulate General.
"Ambassador Nick Burns and other officials in the State Department and Mission have raised our concerns about the outbreak and the PRC's containment measures directly with PRC officials, and we have informed them of our voluntary evacuation decision, ” said a statement Saturday from the U.S. embassy and consulate in China.
Due to the rapid and strict measures taken by the Chinese government to contain the new crown epidemic, mass screening, close contact tracing and travel restrictions, although confirmed cases and asymptomatic infections rebounded before March this year, they were still under control. However, with the raging of the more contagious and spreading Omicron variant, Shanghai, known as the commercial and financial capital of China, has seen a surge in the epidemic since late March, triggering the most severe lockdown in Shanghai since the outbreak. and universal screening measures.
In order to prevent the spread of the epidemic, Shanghai, with a permanent population of 26 million, implemented four-day “zonal lockdowns” in Pudong and Puxi last week. People do not move, stay at home”, to ensure that “no one household is missed, no one is left behind”. The gates of closed communities are locked from the outside, and the supplies of daily necessities such as staple and non-staple food are all delivered to fixed delivery points. The four-day zonal lockdown has now expired, but as the epidemic continues to soar, there is still no sign of an unblocking.
The strict closure and control measures not only disrupted the daily life of the people, but even caused the embarrassment that the citizens who were asked to stay at home could not even eat and drink at home. Once diagnosed, children must be separated from their parents and sent to a child isolation point for isolation, triggering protests and petitions from parents; confirmed patients who were sent to isolation or medical points complained about poor living and living conditions; and were asked to stay home Residents complained that the lockdown measures were too extreme, unreasonable, and even inhumane.
The epidemic crisis in Shanghai has not only challenged the "dynamic zero" policy still adhered to by the Chinese government, but also caused great controversy on Chinese social media and the Internet.
"In light of the surge in COVID-19 cases and related restrictions imposed by the People's Republic of China's response, on April 8, 2022, the U.S. Department of State approved non-emergency U.S. government employees and dependents of emergency and non-emergency U.S. government employees from the U.S. headquarters in Shanghai. The consular area of the consulate was evacuated voluntarily," the statement from the U.S. mission in China said.
According to statistics from the National Health Commission of China, from 0:00 to 24:00 on Friday, a total of 25,071 new local confirmed cases and local new asymptomatic infections were reported across mainland China, of which 23,624 were in Shanghai.
The Shanghai government held a press conference on the prevention and control of the new crown epidemic on Saturday, still emphasizing the goal of realizing the social dynamic zero as soon as possible. The official announced that on the basis of multiple rounds of screening in Shanghai, another nucleic acid test will be carried out for all staff, and then based on the test results, differentiated prevention and control will be implemented by division and level.
The Shanghai Municipal Government stated that the specific approach is to implement step-by-step management according to the size of the risk and in accordance with the principle of dividing the closed control area, the control area, and the prevention area.
From April 4 to 24:00 on April 8, a total of 95.27 million person-times of nucleic acid screening or antigen testing have been conducted in Shanghai, and more than 94,400 positive infected persons have been detected in the samples that have been tested.
Many provinces, cities and military hospitals in mainland China have sent a large number of medical staff to Shanghai to provide screening or medical support, and the Shanghai government is also working hard to add thousands of hospital beds to temporary isolation points.
The U.S. State Department issued a new travel advisory Friday, asking U.S. citizens to avoid travel to China.
"Due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws and COVID-19-related restrictions, U.S. citizens are being asked to reconsider travel to the People's Republic of China," the U.S. State Department's travel warning said.
"Further, U.S. citizens should not travel to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, Jilin Province, and Shanghai due to COVID-19-related restrictions, including the risk of separation of parents and children."
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Friday that the Biden administration is now closely monitoring the lockdown in Shanghai, which has been hit hard by the virus, as air cargo could be delayed as a result.