The US on Friday authorised the “voluntary departure” of non-essential staff from its consulate in Shanghai and recommended that Americans not travel to China owing to tough Covid restrictions there.
The families of all US personnel are also allowed to leave, the State Department said.
The agency advised US citizens against travelling to Shanghai, China's economic capital and largest city, “due to Covid-19 related restrictions, including the risk of parents and children being separated".
China has been battling its worst wave of infections since the start of the pandemic and Shanghai has been under total or partial lockdown for two weeks, with more than 25 million people ordered to stay at home.
China, where the coronavirus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, is among the last remaining places in the world to enforce a zero-Covid approach to the pandemic.
In Shanghai, the government implemented a policy of separating coronavirus-positive children from parents who tested negative, but then had to relax it following criticism.
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Nearly empty roads amid a phased lockdown due to Covid-19 in Shanghai, China. The country's largest city reported more than 13,000 daily Covid cases for the first time, as a sweeping lockdown of its 25 million residents and mass testing uncovered extensive spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant. Bloomberg -
Medical workers gather near a banner that reads 'Unite as one, resolutely win the battle against epidemic' during a departure ceremony before leaving for Shanghai, in Jinan, east China's Shandong Province. AP -
China has sent more than 10,000 health workers from across the country to Shanghai, including 2,000 military medical staff, as it struggles to tackle the rapidly spreading Covid-19 outbreak. AFP -
Workers in protective suits direct residents lining up for Covid testing. Reuters -
Medical workers and volunteers in a compound where residents are being tested for Covid-19. AFP -
Authorities are building the world’s largest makeshift isolation centre to help contain the outbreak in Shanghai. AFP -
A delivery man arranges his orders during lockdown in the Jingan district of western Shanghai. AP -
A worker in protective gear chats with residents outside shuttered shops in the Jingan district of western Shanghai. AP -
The number of cases continues to rise in Shanghai and Jilin, a north-eastern province. AP -
Residents wait to submit samples for tests at a community centre in the Pudong New Area of Shanghai. AP -
A person walks a dog. Reuters -
Policemen wearing protective gear on a street during patrols. AFP -
Workers remove their protective gear at the entrance of a neighbourhood. AFP -
Food shortages and shuttered manufacturing plants have hit residents hard. AFP -
Workers unload groceries from a truck before distributing them to residents. AP -
A man helps a woman to consume a packet of traditional Chinese medicine, as she sits by the side of a road outside a residential compound. Reuters -
Empty highways at night in Shanghai. Bloomberg
