Hundreds of flights were cancelled, some schools shut and tour groups suspended on Friday after three coronavirus cases were reported in Shanghai, as China continues its strict zero-Covid policy.

Beijing has largely succeeded in controlling the spread of the coronavirus within its borders through travel restrictions and snap lockdowns, but frequent domestic flare-ups have tested its no-tolerance strategy in recent months.

The three positive cases are friends who travelled to the nearby city of Suzhou together last week, Shanghai health authorities said at a press conference Thursday evening -- adding that all had been fully vaccinated.

Over 500 flights from Shanghai's two major airports were cancelled on Friday, data from flight tracker VariFlight showed.

The Shanghai government also instructed that all cross-provincial package tours involving the city -- a major commercial and tourism hub -- would be cancelled.

Six Shanghai hospitals have also suspended outpatient services.

"China has accumulated lots of experience in 'dynamic zero-Covid', so our strategy won't change," said Zhang Wenhong, head of the Shanghai Covid prevention expert task force, at a Thursday briefing.

He warned that this could become a "normalised anti-epidemic situation that we may encounter again" in the future.

Around 100 kilometres away, Suzhou -- which has a population of some 13 million people --- closed down tourist attractions and required residents to provide negative test results to leave the city.

Authorities in Beijing are on high alert for any potential outbreaks in the lead up to February's Winter Olympics, which will see an influx of foreign athletes, media and officials.

All schools were closed in the small satellite city of Xuzhou, which also stopped its two million residents from heading out of the city on bus services, after a close contact of one Shanghai patient was found there.

A university campus in neighbouring Hangzhou was put under lockdown after a staff member was discovered to be a close contact of a confirmed case, state media reported.

With the leadership determined to host a Covid-free Olympic Games, Beijing's Olympic Park has already been sealed off as part of the event's "closed-loop" bubble, state media reported.

Related Links
Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

France says 5th Covid wave hitting at 'lightning' speed
Paris (AFP) Nov 21, 2021
Fifth-wave coronavirus infections in France are rising at an alarming rate, the government reported Sunday, with new daily Covid cases close to doubling over the past week. The seven-day average of new cases reached 17,153 on Saturday, up from 9,458 a week earlier, according to the health authorities, an increase of 81 percent. "The fifth wave is starting at lightning speed," government spokesman Gabrial Attal told media. The latest seven-day increase is three times the average rise of cases ... read more