26 million people in Shanghai are locked down due to a surge in COVID cases

Residents wearing face masks walk by a masked security watch over a barricaded Galaxy Soho commercial office building locked down for health monitoring following a COVID-19 case detected in the area Tuesday in Beijing. China has sent more than 10,000 health workers from across the country to Shanghai, including 2,000 military medical staff.

Andy Wong / Andy Wong

BEIJING — The COVID-19 outbreak in China’s largest metropolis of Shanghai remains “extremely grim” amid an ongoing lockdown confining around 26 million people to their homes, a city official said Tuesday.

Director of Shanghai’s working group on epidemic control, Gu Honghui, was quoted by state media as saying that the outbreak in the city was “still running at a high level.”

“The situation is extremely grim,” Gu said.