Shanghai Disneyland tests 33K, closes 2 days over 1 contact

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Fireworks boomed as the visitors at Shanghai Disneyland waited for their COVID-19 test results, surrounded by healthcare workers dressed from head to toe in the white protective suits.

Shanghai Disneyland suddenly announced Sunday evening that they were no longer accepting any visitors and they were cooperating with an epidemiological investigation from another province. They then locked down the park, as Shanghai city healthcare workers and police rushed to the scene to conduct a mass testing.

The park is shut for Monday and Tuesday as they continue to cooperate with the pandemic prevention efforts, Shanghai Disneyland said in a notice on Monday.

The park's sudden lockdown and temporary closure underscored just how serious China is about enforcing its zero-tolerance pandemic prevention strategy.

Globally, many countries have turned to living with the virus, whether out of choice or necessity, although as virus surges come and go, many face overburdened healthcare systems, and excess deaths.

In China, which has kept its borders sealed since March 2020, the policy response has been to cut the chain of transmission of the virus as quickly as possible. With a strict quarantine on arrival policy, the authorities have aimed to stamp out each local outbreak to zero — helping China keep its reported totals to relatively lows of 4,636 deaths out of 97,243 cases since the pandemic began.

The case that prompted Disneyland's actions involved one individual whose illness was discovered in the nearby city of Hangzhou and had visited the theme park on Saturday, local media reported.

For hours on Sunday night, tens of thousands of families and visitors were stuck in the theme park, as they waited for a negative test result that would allow them to leave.

One...