SHANGHAI, China (Reuters) – Tuesday saw Shanghai, China’s largest city tighten the first stage of a COVID-19 lockdown. Residents were asked to remain indoors unless they have been tested, as more than 4,400 cases are reported each day.

China’s financial center, which is home to 26 millions people, is currently in the second day of lockdown. Local authorities have divided the city along the Huangpu River. This allows for staggered testing.

Although the Shanghai caseload is still modest by international standards (a record 4,381 cases of asymptomatic patients and 96 cases of symptomatic cases as at March 28, 2008), the city has been a test ground for the “zero COVID” strategy to control the Omicron virus.

East of the Huangpu residents were at first kept in isolation within their homes, but they were allowed to wander around freely. Two residents informed Reuters on Tuesday that their neighbour committees had told them they weren’t allowed to enter their homes anymore.

According to one child, they were having great fun yesterday with their picnics.

Wu Qianyu was an official of the municipal health commissioner and stated that locked down residents shouldn’t leave their homes, not even for to walk with pets or dispose of trash, at a Tuesday press conference.

“This is in truth a critical stage in nucleic Acid Testing and we have asked people who are in lockdown areas to please stay at home,” she stated.

She stated that 17,000 people from Shanghai and other regions were involved in setting up 6,300 testing stations. On Monday, they conducted an estimated 8.26 billion tests in locked-down areas of the city.

“The enormous number of health workers, grassroots cadres, community workers, and volunteers contributed to the hard work of epidemic control. We should all be grateful,” she stated.

‘PAUSE BUTTON’

Chinese state media released drone footage that showed the desolate areas surrounding the Lujiazui district’s skyscrapers in Pudong. All unapproved vehicles and public transport have been banned from the streets of east China.

Shanghai Stock Exchange (in the western portion of the city) stated that they have kept a small staff on the premises for important positions like trading or technical system operations. While others can work remotely, some employees are still employed by the exchange.

The west side of the city saw residents continue to rush to the vegetable and grocery markets in preparation for the April 1 lockdown.

However, Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ) in the United States, whose Shanghai location has attracted large lines of customers in recent days, announced that it would close on Tuesday ahead of the scheduled lockdown. This was in addition to some other shops and gyms located in Shanghai’s west districts.

On Tuesday, the Shanghai government announced new measures in support of COVID-affected companies. These included rent exemptions as well as tax rebates totaling billions of dollars.

Global Times, a Communist Party tabloid said that Shanghai had hit the “pause” button late Monday in what it described as a “sudden shift of course”. However, economic losses were likely to be minor.

According to the Peking University economist Cao Heping it was estimated that while the city’s GDP growth will likely decrease by 0.5% over the first quarter and second quarters of this year, the impact on the nation’s economy won’t be significant.