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Thousands of visitors to Shanghai Disneyland found themselves locked in the amusement park on Oct. 31, after a recent visitor tested positive for Covid-19, reported Chinese state media.
The Covid-19 case is a woman from Jiangxi province, who reportedly visited Disneyland on Oct. 30.
Compulsory Covid-19 testing before exit
Videos on the ground showed several health officials dressed in white Hazmat suits, carrying out Covid-19 testing for the park's visitors while fireworks were set off in the background on Halloween.
According to an Oct. 31 notice issued by Shanghai Disney Resort on Weibo, entry into Shanghai Disneyland and Disneytown was temporarily suspended, with some attractions temporarily stopping operations, to "cooperate with pandemic investigation in other provinces and cities".
Guests already inside the park were reminded to comply with "pandemic prevention measures", including wearing a mask and practicing social distancing.
All visitors were then required to undergo nucleic acid testing at the exit, before they could leave the resort on Oct. 31.
The notice added that all visitors would be required to undergo another nucleic acid test after 24 hours, following guidance from the Centre for Disease Control.
"If both tests are confirmed to be negative, then guests will be asked to follow a 12-day self-health monitoring."
Nearly 34,000 people at Disneyland underwent testing, which ended close to midnight.
All tested negative for Covid-19, as of Nov. 1.
Two-day closure
In a subsequent notice posted on Weibo on Oct. 31, Shanghai Disney Resort shared that it will be closed from Nov. 1-2, 2021, to "follow the requirement of pandemic prevention and control".
There is currently no confirmed date yet set to resume operations.
Zero infection strategy in China
According to the Global Times, Shanghai Disney Resort had already been closed once due to the pandemic in 2020.
In a similar situation, Universal Beijing Resort had announced on Saturday that it had tested all staff and placed personnel involved under close monitoring and isolation, after it was notified that a close contact of a Covid-19 patient had visited the park the week prior.
According to Bloomberg, the drastic measures are "emblematic" of China’s zero-infection strategy, which it continues to pursue with snap lockdowns, border curbs, mandatory quarantines, and mass testing.
China remains one of the last "zero Covid-19" proponents in the world, as many other countries switch to living endemically with the virus.
Over the weekend a baby was reported by Chinese media to have been tested as many as 74 times for Covid since September 2020, as part of China's mass testing tactics.
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Top image via Jainyue Naifan Facebook