Shanghai to allow parents to stay with COVID-infected kids

BEIJING (AP) — Following a public uproar, Shanghai will allow parents to stay with children infected with COVID-19 as China’s largest city sees another jump in cases.

A top city health commission inspector on Wednesday said parents who “fully comprehend the health risks” and sign an agreement will be permitted to accompany their children in monitoring facilities.

However, the parents must wear masks, eat separately, avoid sharing personal items and “strictly follow” all aspects of the management system, Wu Ganyu told reporters.

News that parents were being separated from their infected children sparked a wave of protest online, further fueled by photos showing several children held in each cot and no parents in sight.

Shanghai remains under complete lockdown to fight China’s latest outbreak, now well into the second week of what originally was publicized as a two-stage measure lasting just eight days. Officials say they will decide on further measures after analyzing the results of tests on more than 25 million city residents.

Shanghai on Wednesday reported another 17,077 cases detected over the previous day, all but 311 of them people who showed no symptoms. The city requires all those who test positive but are asymptomatic to be held in designated locations for observation, along with their close contacts.

The latest figures bring Shanghai's total cases to around 90,000 in the latest wave of infections that began last month. No deaths have been ascribed to the outbreak driven by the omicron BA.2 variant, which is much more infectious but also less lethal than the previous delta strain.

While China’s vaccination rate hovers around 90%, its domestically produced inactivated virus vaccines are seen as weaker than the mRNA vaccines such as those produced by...