Diplomatic community in Shanghai bear brunt of COVID-19 lockdown
Apr 12, 2022
Beijing [China], April 12 : Distress signals have started to emerge from the lock-down or restrictions imposed by the Chinese government in Shanghai in the wake of the COVID-19 resurgence in the city.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that the Consulate General of USA in Shanghai, China, on behalf of the Consulates General of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have written a letter to Consulate Affairs Division, Foreign Affairs Office, Shanghai, and forwarded requests and suggestions to facilitate ordinary foreign nationals.
The letter supposedly underlines the shortage of food or bottled water for foreign nationals and suggests setting up an English speaking hotline with adequate resources to attend to foreign nationals who are unable to access basic needs.
The Consulates have also requested timely and effective emergency as well as non-Covid emergency treatment/medication for nationals of the USA, Canada, Australia, UK and New Zealand.
The letter emphasizes that in the event of a minor getting infected and requiring isolation, medical treatment, or COVID tests, one parent be allowed to accompany the child throughout. It also requested home isolation for all foreign nationals who are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.
Requesting free passage for their nationals, the Consulates requested that if their citizens were able to provide proof of tickets to travel, they should be allowed to travel to and enter Pudong or Hongqiao airports, whether or not their residence was under lock-down.
