Sharjah24 - Reuters: Shanghai residents queued up in sweltering heat for compulsory mass testing for COVID-19 on Tuesday, as persistent small outbreaks fuelled anxiety in a city that is still recovering from the painful two-month lockdown lifted a few weeks ago.
The nagging daily case tolls in the commercial hub of 25 million and other outbreaks scattered across China have also unnerved global financial markets in recent days, with investors wary of disruptive COVID restrictions.
China's "dynamic zero-COVID" policy aims to eradicate all outbreaks promptly, against a global trend of co-existing with the virus. The world's No.2 economy already suffered severe damage from sweeping COVID restrictions in the second quarter, affecting global supply chains and international trade.
Shanghai authorities have repeatedly dismissed talk of broader curbs, relying on targeted lockdowns and relentless testing to contain outbreaks, which have included infections with the highly-transmissible Omicron BA.5.2.1 subvariant.
But online chat groups used by residents to organise group purchases of basic necessities during the April-May lockdown have livened up again, with people swapping advice over what items were selling out in supermarkets.
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