Shanghai Planning 3,250-Bed Covid Facility on Island

Shanghai plans to build a 3,250-bed Covid quarantine facility on a small island close to the city centre, despite talk of China easing its tough zero-Covid stance.

City officials have awarded a 1.38 billion yuan ($191 million) contract to build the centre on Fuxing Island, located in the Huangpu River, to state-owned builder China Communications Construction Corp, according to a government document.

The document said the site, which will take in positive cases and their close contacts, would be 140,000 square metres large and have 3,009 rooms. It did not give a timeline for the project’s completion.

The Shanghai government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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Testing Ramped up in Beijing

The price of oil gained around $1 on Thursday morning after a report that China is considering a cut in the duration of quarantine for inbound visitors.

But the price rise petered out after most analysts said they believe little change is likely before the first quarter next year.

Later on Thursday, news emerged that authorities in Beijing are stepping up testing – with more public checks and locking down some residential compounds after a quadrupling of its cases in recent weeks, as the Communist Party’s Congress proceeds.

China has vowed to stick to its zero-Covid policy despite growing public pushback and its toll on the economy, especially in cities like Shanghai which endured a painful two month-long city-wide lockdown that was lifted on June 1.

Shanghai, like other Chinese cities, has continued to battle sporadic outbreaks with repeated mass testing and targeted lockdowns.

Other localities have built similar quarantine sites. The southern metropolis of Guangzhou has a 5,000-bed quarantine centre that is mainly meant for travellers entering China from abroad.