TAIPEI, TAIWAN —
Fireworks boomed as guests at Shanghai Disneyland waited for COVID-19 take a look at outcomes, surrounded by well being care employees dressed from head to toe in white protecting fits.
Shanghai Disneyland introduced out of the blue Sunday night that it was now not accepting any new guests and was cooperating with an epidemiological investigation from one other province. They then locked down the park as Shanghai metropolis healthcare employees and police rushed to conduct a mass testing of the guests already inside.
After testing everybody, the park will stay shut on Monday and Tuesday because it continues to cooperate with pandemic prevention efforts, Shanghai Disneyland stated in an announcement Monday.
The park’s sudden lockdown and momentary closure underscored simply how critical China is about implementing its zero-tolerance pandemic prevention technique.
Globally, many nations have turned to dwelling with the virus, whether or not out of alternative or necessity, though as virus surges come and go, many face overburdened well being care methods and extra deaths.
In China, which has saved its borders sealed since March 2020, the response has been to chop the chain of transmission of the virus as rapidly as attainable. With a strict quarantine-on-arrival coverage, the authorities have aimed to stamp out every native outbreak to zero — serving to China maintain its reported totals to 4,636 deaths and 97,243 circumstances because the pandemic started.
The case which will have prompted Disneyland’s actions concerned one particular person whose sickness was found within the close by metropolis of Hangzhou and had visited the theme park on Saturday, native media reported.
For hours on Sunday night time, tens of hundreds of households and guests had been caught within the park as they waited for a unfavourable take a look at outcome that will permit them to go away.
The town introduced Monday morning that each one 33,863 individuals who had been on the park over the weekend had examined unfavourable for COVID-19. They are going to be requested to get examined once more and their well being will likely be monitored.
One Disney fan, who gave her household identify as Chen, stated she was contained in the park when she heard an announcement at 5 p.m. that everybody should get examined.
“Nobody complained, and everybody behaved very well,” Chen stated. She stated she holds an annual membership and visits the park at the least as soon as a month. She is ready at a lodge for her second COVID-19 take a look at earlier than she will return to Beijing.
Shanghai Disneyland is simply the newest instance of how far Chinese language authorities will go to cease the unfold of the virus.
Final Thursday, Beijing Railway authorities informed well being authorities in Jinan to cease a prepare that was touring from Shanghai to Beijing as a result of one passenger was an in depth contact of somebody who had examined constructive for COVID-19.
Jinan well being authorities then despatched well being care employees, transportation employees and police speeding to the station to quarantine the passengers and disinfect the prepare. They despatched 212 individuals into centralized quarantine, together with the shut contact.
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Related Press information assistant Caroline Chen in Beijing contributed to this report.
