Shanghai lockdown likely to be extended... Daily infections including asymptomatic cases exceed 13,000

First Deployment of 38,000 Medical Staff Nationwide Including 2,000 Military Medical Personnel Since Wuhan
Red Light for Achieving China's 5.5%+ Economic Growth Target This Year

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] The daily confirmed COVID-19 cases in Shanghai, China's economic capital and financial hub, have exceeded 13,000 (13,086 asymptomatic cases). It is only a matter of time before the daily confirmed cases surpass 15,152, the peak during the Wuhan outbreak in 2020.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

As the situation in Shanghai worsened, Chinese authorities urgently deployed 2,000 People's Liberation Army troops to support quarantine efforts. Additionally, more than 38,000 medical personnel from 15 provinces nationwide were dispatched to Shanghai.

China does not include asymptomatic infections in the confirmed case count, but since asymptomatic individuals are also quarantined, this is expected to have a significant impact on the Chinese economy.

According to the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission (Weiguanwei) on the 5th, as of the 4th, there were 268 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Shanghai, with 13,086 asymptomatic infections reported.

As confirmed and infected cases continue to emerge, the possibility of a prolonged lockdown in Shanghai has increased. The Shanghai authorities announced a plan to divide Pudong and Puxi into two zones and lock them down alternately for four days each starting from the 28th of last month to curb the spread of COVID-19. According to the original schedule, the lockdown was supposed to be lifted at 3 a.m. on the 5th.

Regarding the lifting of the lockdown, Shanghai authorities announced that they have completed sample collection for all 25 million residents the day before and will proceed with procedures to confirm infection status. This announcement effectively means that the lockdown will not be lifted.

As COVID-19 cases in Shanghai continue to rise, Chinese authorities have even mobilized the military. Two thousand personnel from the People's Liberation Army medical units were dispatched to assist with Shanghai's quarantine efforts, and over 38,000 medical workers from across China have been deployed to Shanghai.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

China's state-run Global Times explained that this is the largest deployment since early 2020 when more than 42,000 medical personnel were sent nationwide to Wuhan. This indicates that the quarantine is being conducted at the national level rather than by local governments, suggesting that the situation is far more serious than publicly known.

The virus spreading in Shanghai is the Omicron variant. Despite its lower risk, the Chinese authorities' deployment of a large medical workforce to Shanghai appears to be a desperate measure to prevent economic deterioration.

Within China, there have been forecasts that Shanghai's first lockdown could reduce Shanghai's GDP by 0.5 percentage points year-on-year in the first and second quarters. If the lockdown is prolonged, it cannot be ruled out that Shanghai's GDP will decline further.

Last year, Shanghai's GDP was 4.321485 trillion yuan (approximately 826.873 trillion Korean won). Shanghai accounts for 4% of China's total GDP (114.367 trillion yuan), a scale large enough to affect the entire Chinese economy.

If the Shanghai lockdown continues, concerns are beginning to arise that the Chinese government may find it difficult to achieve its growth target of '5.5% or higher' this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.