SHANGHAI, (Reuters) – Shanghai’s vice-mayor admitted that there were problems in handling the COVID-19 epidemic in Shanghai. A record 236,000 new cases of the disease were reported Saturday. The U.S. consulate allowed the families and non-essential personnel to evacuate the consulate.

Zong Ming (Deputy Mayor) praised support from the public, the hard work of frontline workers in spite of public criticism of restrictive curbs. But he stated that there was still much to do about the virus’ handling.

Zong stated that everyone feels the same about all the issues raised. Zong stated that “a lot of our efforts have not been sufficient and there is still much to be done.” We’ll do everything we can to make it better.

Beijing intervened following the failure to isolate the virus in Shanghai by locking it down in stages. It demanded that the country adhere to its zero tolerance policy to stop its medical system becoming overwhelmed.

After Friday’s reports of cases, Guangzhou, a southern megacity with over 18,000,000 inhabitants, said that it would start testing in each of the 11 affected districts.

Shanghai is home to 26 million people. The residents continue to complain about food insecurity due to lack of delivery and uncertain when curbs might be lifted.

According to the government, it will conduct additional testing Saturday and reduce movement restrictions. Residents of compounds housing people who have not been charged in recent years claimed they were notified by the neighbourhood committees that it was possible to leave their houses and walk within their compound.

However, it did not indicate a shift in approach.

Zong stated that “the epidemic prevention and control are now at their most crucial moment and cannot tolerate any slack.”

FOOD RUSSH

Gu Jun is the director for the city’s commerce committee. Gu acknowledged that there were problems with distribution of food products and suggested that all supermarkets, distribution centres and pharmacies be allowed to continue online operations.

JD, an e-commerce company (NASDAQ:).com Inc announced that it has been granted a Shanghai delivery license and held a livestreaming session for more than 3.5million people.

In response to commentsators who claimed they couldn’t purchase the offered products, hosts repeated their pleas for patience.

Another official responded to reports about patients who had recovered from COVID, but were not allowed back to their homes by neighborhood committees. The official stressed that the evidence did not support any risks from discharged patients.

According to the United States State Department, Friday’s travel advisory stated that non-emergency staff members and their families could leave Shanghai consulate due the rise in cases.

The U.S. government advised citizens not to travel to China due to the “arbitrary enforcement of local laws” and COVID-19 limitations.

Shanghai had reported 1,015 cases of symptomatic disease on Saturday. 22,609 cases were not symptomatic.