SHANGHAI (Reuters – China’s largest commercial center, Shanghai, was shut down Friday by the government. The move to stop COVID-19 spreading to the rest of Shanghai’s 26million residents came despite official statistics showing that the number of local cases fell for the second straight day.

Late Thursday, the city government extended the lockdown in Eastern Districts. As scheduled, western areas of city were also closed.

According to new official guidance, many residents of China’s largest city are now required to remain home for as long as necessary to contain the epidemic. They have been instructed to not leave their homes to walk or dispose of any rubbish.

Public transportation in the majority of the city was suspended. Businesses that were not considered essential like shopping malls and restaurants had to also close.

Lockdowns were initiated on Monday to stem an Omicron-related outbreak. The initial plan was for the lockdown to last 10 consecutive days. Five days of closure were required for areas east Shanghai’s Huangpu River. Then, the western districts would reopen after a five day shutdown.

However, the government of Shanghai said that it will lift curbs in East Shanghai by a series.

The majority of these districts now have a lockdown. This includes the Lujiazui District office towers, China’s answer for Wall Street and the factories, including Volkswagen (DE)’s joint venture partner with SAIC Motor, as well as the U.S.-based automaker Tesla (NASDAQ)’s factory.

China’s current outbreak is not considered to be a major threat by international standards. Shanghai now accounts for 33% of all asymptomatic cases in the country. It is a testing ground for COVID, a dynamic clearance approach that aims at centrally quarantine, track, and test every positive case.

On Friday, officials reported that there were 4,144 newly transmitted locally symptomatic and 358 symptomatic cases. These numbers are down from 5,298 and 355, respectively.

A few residents expressed doubts about the daily tally and questioned how quick positive cases were registered. Shanghai releases a daily report listing addresses from which cases were found. Many residents claimed that they only received their address information after neighbors had been positive, or even not at all.

Shanghai’s city officials didn’t respond immediately to our request for comments on the suspicion over case numbers.

Residents in lockdown will need to be subjected to rounds of DNA testing performed by health workers wearing hazmat suits. Only residents are allowed to leave their homes for these tests. They will be conducted in their own or nearby housing compound.

Residents were asked to stand two meters apart for testing by authorities amid concerns about contagion.

The Shanghai New International Expo Center which hosts trade fairs like the Shanghai Autoshow has been transformed into the largest city-wide central quarantine center with over 15,000 beds.