Shanghai Disney Abruptly Shut Down After COVID-19 Case Detected
On October 31, because of a detected COVID case who traveled to Shanghai Disneyland, the park was shut down again after it reopened in late June. Photo: Aly Song/ Reuters
Shanghai Disneyland, one of the major tourist attractions in Shanghai, has been closed since the beginning of November 2021. This follows a closure in March of this year -- both closures were caused because of detected COVID-19 cases among the visitors in the park or a general spread of the virus in the city. The park was reopened in late June this year, but just four months since then, on October 31, 2022, after Halloween just passed days ago, it was abruptly shut down once more.
On October 27, the park strengthened its COVID-19 prevention measures under which only the visitors who got tested negative three times in three consecutive days were allowed to enter the park. However, on October 31, there was one locally transmitted COVID-19 case detected in Shanghai by a person who had been visiting the Disneyland park in the past few days. In response to this, on the same day, the park announced that, in accordance with the city pandemic containment requirements, the park would be immediately closed without a reopening schedule instantly available.
A medical worker in a protective suit collects a swab from a resident for nucleic acid testing, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China, November 1, 2022. Photo: Aly Song/ Reuters
By the time the park was closed, there were still visitors inside who were not allowed to leave until they got tested for COVID-19 and received their negative test result. One day later, around 10:30 EST (22:30 local time) on November 1, the visitors, all tested negative, finally left the park, and all the facilities received disinfection measures. Now, the park is operating limited offerings under official guidelines.
Shanghai Release, a social media account of Shanghai government news office, responded to local residents and visitors regarding the shutdown and the general strickening of the city’s pandemic containment measures. They said that since the infected cases and those having close contact with them have traveled to too many places, the city carried out temporary containment measures targeted on certain areas, suspended unnecessary flows of traveling, and screened all the relevant people and places. All these are in accordance with the national and urban pandemic containment rules and helpful in protecting the health of residents and visitors.
Still, some analysts expressed their concerns about such pandemic prevention measures. Peng Peng, executive chairman at the Guangdong Society of Reform, commented that if neither the new cases or the COVID-19 control policies improve, it’s possible that the economy could continue to go down. Shanghai Disneyland received more than 1.1 million visitors every year before the pandemic, and represents a significant economic venture in the city. He noted that, however, if pandemic control and economic recovery can be balanced, confidence could be slowly restored. Currently, there are still no clues how the pandemic policies of Shanghai or China in general will evolve and affect the city in the future.