Shanghai Disney Resort visitors told to stay at home after single COVID case prompts lockdown of theme park
Stay-at-home orders and mandatory testing notices have been issued to several Shanghai residents as authorities race to trace contacts linked to a
COVID-positive woman whose visit to the city’s Disney resort prompted its temporary lockdown.
The Shanghai Disney Resort on Monday became the latest major venue to shut its gates due to China’s strict zero-COVID policy, locking in all visitors and only allowing them to leave, hours later, after they had tested negative for the virus.
Several families said on Tuesday they had been told by officials they must stay at home if they had visited the attraction since Thursday – and to take COVID-19 tests for the next three days.
One resident of the city told Reuters news agency she was informed her family might have to go into central quarantine.
Authorities said the Disney resort was shut after a 31-year-old woman, who had visited the park among other places in recent days, tested positive for the virus.
The Shanghai Disney Resort was temporarily shut after a woman who had visited the park tested positive for COVID
The latest crackdown comes as China‘s coronavirus infections hit 2,719-a-day.
The country’s COVID-19 case load has remained small by global standards, and some believe the strict pandemic restrictions are holding back the economy and are increasingly out of sync with the rest of the world.
The rigid zero-COVID policy has seen millions of residents confined to their homes, subject to mass testing programmes and enduring sudden lockdowns – in areas where positive coronavirus cases or their close contacts have been detected.
In August, authorities tried to stop shoppers from leaving an Ikea store in the Xuhui district of Shanghai after a customer was found to have been in close contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID.
The city is no stranger to the tough coronavirus stance – it endured a two-month lockdown earlier this year.
Meanwhile, in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, Apple iPhone manufacturer Foxconn announced a big increase in bonuses to stem an exodus of workers frustrated by coronavirus curbs.
Videos appearing to show workers leaving the plant with luggage have reportedly gone viral on Chinese social media.
The move by Foxconn came as authorities unexpectedly lifted partial restrictions on Zhengzhou’s nearly 13 million people, even as new locally transmitted cases more than doubled on Monday from the day before.
“For over 10 days, we have persevered and fought together, fighting the disease, advancing and retreating together, and working hard together, and finally we are ushering in a large-scale restoration of normal life and production in Zhengzhou,” the city’s counter-epidemic task force wrote in an online letter to residents.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
Read more:
Who is in Trump’s top team?
Trump’s cabinet signals tough stance on China
Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
Read more from Sky News:
Mass displacement in Gaza – people unsure where to go
Donald Trump picks vaccine sceptic as health secretary
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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