China's financial hub of Shanghai launched a two-stage lockdown of its 26 million people on Monday, closing bridges and tunnels, and restricting highway traffic in a scramble to contain surging COVID-19 cases, APA reports citing Reuters.
The snap lockdown, announced by Shanghai's city government on Sunday, will split the city in two roughly along the Huangpu River for nine days to allow for "staggered" testing. It is the biggest COVID-related disruption to hit the city.
The order marks a turnaround for the city government, which as late as Saturday denied that Shanghai would be locked down as it pursued a more piecemeal "slicing and gridding" approach to try to rein in infections.
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