Shanghai Disneyland has barred thousands from leaving the Magic Kingdom after locking down the entire resort due to a Covid outbreak.
All visitors in the park at the time of the announcement have been ordered to stay inside until they can provide a negative test for the virus.
Footage shared on Weibo showed panicked guests rushing to the park’s gates to escape, only to find them locked. Around 60,000 visitors enter the park each day.
Authorities moved to shut it down after only 10 locally transmitted cases were reported across Shanghai yesterday, all of which it said were people without symptoms.
The resort said at 11.39am today it would immediately shut the main theme park and surrounding areas including its shopping street until further notice to comply with virus curbs.
Shanghai Disneyland has barred thousands from leaving the Magic Kingdom after locking down the entire resort due to a Covid outbreak. Pictured: officials ushering guests inside the parl
The resort said at 11.39am today it would immediately shut the main theme park and surrounding areas
The Shanghai government said on its official WeChat account the park was barring people from entering or exiting and that all visitors inside the site would need to await the results of their tests before they could leave.
Anyone who had visited the park since October 27 would also need to test for Covid three times in three days, it said.
The theme park continued to operate rides for visitors stuck in the park during the closure on Monday, social media users reported.
A Shanghai Disney Resort spokesperson said the resort was still operating ‘limited offerings’ and that they were following measures in line with guidelines from Chinese health authorities.
The resort had on Saturday said that it had started operating with a reduced workforce to comply with Covid measures.
The closure marks the latest disruption for the Shanghai Disney Resort, which was shut for over three months during Shanghai’s lockdown earlier this year.
Uniformed officials arrived at the Disney resort to impose the harsh restrictions in response to the minor Covid outbreak
The park was also closed for two days in November last year with more than 30,000 visitors stuck inside, after authorities ordered all of them to be tested in a contact tracing exercise.
Videos circulating on China’s Weibo platform on Monday showed people rushing to the park’s gates, which were already locked.
Reuters was not able to verify the authenticity of the videos and the Shanghai Disney Resort did not respond when asked about on how many visitors were inside.
Local authorities across China have continued to impose abrupt and extreme measures to cut any possibility of virus transmission once cases arise, in line with the country’s ultra-strict zero-tolerance approach towards Covid.
The Universal Resort in the country’s capital of Beijing reopened on Monday after a five day closure, which was also prompted by virus measures.
Rising case numbers from numerous outbreaks across China have prompted a tightening of local curbs and lockdowns, including in parts of big cities such as the southern metropolis of Guangzhou.
Videos circulating on China’s Weibo platform on Monday showed people rushing to the park’s gates, which were already locked
At this month’s twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress, President Xi Jinping reiterated China’s commitment to its zero-Covid policy, disappointing investors and countless Chinese frustrated by lockdowns, travel curbs and testing.
‘We don’t expect the zero-COVID policy to be abandoned until 2024, which means virus disruptions will keep in-person services activity subdued,’ said Huang from Capital Economics.
In the central city of Zhengzhou, a Foxconn plant that makes iPhones and employs about 200,000 people has been rocked by discontent over stringent measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.
New cases in mainland China hit 2,898 on Sunday, topping 2,000 for a second straight day, a tiny number by global standards.
In Guangzhou, one of China’s biggest cities and an economic powerhouse, the number of new locally-transmitted cases totalled 1,110 from October 24-30, up from 402 in the previous seven-day period, with the district of Haizhu, home to 1.8 million people, under lockdown.
People wearing face masks visit the Shanghai Disney Resort in June when it reopened after a Covid shutdown
The park was also closed for two days in November last year with more than 30,000 visitors stuck inside
A Guangzhou resident named Ye said he was in a suburban quarantine hotel after being told on October 27 that he was deemed a close contact by virtue of walking on the same street three days earlier around the same time as someone who tested positive.
‘I do not know how they calculated that. Also there is no room for you to query or dispute it. If they say that’s what you are, then that’s final,’ said Ye, an artist in his 50s.
Over the past week, authorities have raced to get a handle on rising cases in cities across China, including Datong, Xining, Nanjing, Xian, Zhengzhou and Wuhan, forcing temporary lockdown measures.
Du Fan, 40, founder of Wuhan Small Animals Protection Association, which won praise from animal lovers during the pandemic’s first lockdown in the central city in early 2020, said his residential compound had been locked down on Saturday.
‘My biggest worry at the moment is that if this continues for too much longer, I’m afraid we won’t be able to continue rescuing the animals, because there’s no way to carry out a lot of work,’ he said.
In the Chinese-controlled territory of Macau, authorities reinstated curbs including locking down a major casino over the weekend after a handful of cases were detected. Macau had been COVID-free for more than three months.