More than 38,000 Chinese healthcare workers arrived in Shanghai to help with testing and makeshift hospitals, state-run Xinhua reported. It’s the largest mobilization the country has seen since early 2020.
China’s military sent around 2,000 medical personnel, an official news outlet of the People’s Liberation Army reported.
Hospitals also have struggled to keep up with the surge in cases as the lockdown has sparked waves of panic buying, growing discontent and public outrage over social media images showing crowded wards for children with COVID-19 who were separated from parents.
Despite the lockdown’s economic toll in one of China’s most important financial, manufacturing and shipping hubs, Chinese officials have publicly remained committed to the zero-COVID approach.
On Saturday, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan visited Shanghai and called on the city to swiftly curb the outbreak, declaring that China would “adhere to the dynamic zero-COVID policy without wavering.”
