The U.S. orders non-emergency staff to leave Shanghai amid a COVID surge

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/12/ [login to see] /u-s-consular-staff-leave-shanghai
The U.S. has ordered non-emergency government staff to leave Shanghai, which is under a tight lockdown to contain a COVID-19 surge.

Many residents in the city of 26 million have been confined to their homes for up to three weeks as China maintains its "zero-COVID" strategy of handling outbreaks with strict isolation and mass testing.

But people living under the restrictions have described an increasingly desperate situation, with families unable to leave their homes or obtain food and daily necessities, while people who test positive for the coronavirus have been forced into mass quarantine centers where conditions at times have been called crowded and unsanitary.

Authorities on Tuesday said another 23,342 people in Shanghai tested positive for the virus over the previous day, just 994 of whom displayed symptoms. Total infections have topped more than 200,000 in the latest wave, although no additional deaths have been reported.