Chinese authorities have stepped up testing in Shanghai and other megacities as COVID infections rise again, as well as extending quarantine times and closing some public spaces where the virus could spread.
Local infections have risen to their highest since August this week, and the uptick is coinciding with increased domestic travel during the National Day "Golden Week" holiday earlier this month.
Shanghai, keen to avoid a reprise of the economically devastating and psychically scarring lockdown in April and May, said late on Monday that all of its 16 districts were to conduct routine testing on their residents at least twice a week until Nov. 10. That's a step up from once a week presently, a regime imposed after the earlier lockdown was lifted.
"We are monitoring the situation because it seems like Shanghai is gradually shutting down anyway and if everything starts to close then there won't be much benefit in being able to come and go."