Contagions close Shanghai Disneyland, Shenzhen reopens

BEIJING (AP) — Shanghai's Disneyland Park closed Monday as China's most populous city tried to contain its biggest coronavirus outbreak in two years. Shenzhen's business hub in the south allowed shops and offices to reopen after a week of lockdown.

Meanwhile, the cities of Changchun and Jilin, in the northeast, began another round of diagnostic tests on the entire population after an increase in infections. Jilin tightened its measures against the virus and ordered two million people to stay at home.

The number of cases in this wave of infections in China is low compared to other large countries, but the authorities maintain a zero-tolerance strategy that has cut off access to several major cities.

The government reported 2,027 new cases in mainland China on Sunday, up from 1,737 the previous day. That included 1,542 infections in Jilin province, where Changchun and Jilin are located.

Shanghai, which has 24 million inhabitants, has avoided a general quarantine but asked the population to stay at home. Bus services to the city were suspended and visitors were required to show a negative test result to enter.

Disney Co. announced the closure of its Disneyland, Disneytown and Wishing Star venues until further notice.

The city reported 24 new cases on Monday.

The government of Shenzhen, a financial and technology hub bordering Hong Kong, allowed public and business offices to reopen on Monday, while authorities took steps to prevent a spike in the virus. The bus and metro service, which had been interrupted, was working again.

The city of 17.5 million people last week closed all businesses except those serving food and other commodities, and told the public to stay home after an increase in cases.

Some of China's largest companies are based in Shenzhen, such as telecommunications equipment manufacturer Huawei, electric car brand BYD Auto and Tencent, operator of the popular WeChat messaging service.

The closures raised concerns that trade could be affected if ports near Shanghai and Shenzhen, which are among the busiest in the world, were affected. The port of Shanghai handled all the paperwork telematically, but the goods moved normally. The smaller port in Lianyungang prohibited foreign seafarers from going ashore.

The government said last week that it was trying to fine-tune its antivirus controls to reduce the economic cost and its impact on society.