China Announces Biggest Citywide Lockdown, Covering 26 Million in Shanghai

Police officers wearing protective gear control access to a tunnel in the direction of Pudong district in lockdown in Shanghai on March 28, 2022. HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images

China’s financial hub of Shanghai announced a two-phased lockdown on March 27, a day after city officials denied they planned a citywide lockdown amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Shanghai, one of China’s largest cities with 26 million people, had never implemented a full-scale citywide lockdown since the Chinese regime launched its zero-COVID playbook at the onset of the pandemic in early 2020.