Aly Song | Reuters The State Department has ordered all non-emergency government personnel and their family members in Shanghai to leave as Covid grows, and told U.S. citizens to reconsider their trip to China, according to an April 11 announcement. “Review the trip to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws and restrictions related to COVID-19,” the State Department said. “Do not travel to the DRC’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Jilin Province and Shanghai Municipality due to COVID-19-related restrictions, including the risk of separation of parents and children,” the statement said. “Review the trip to the DRC’s Hong Kong SAR due to arbitrary enforcement of local law.” The State Department announcement came a week after the U.S. Mission to China in Beijing said U.S. government officials and family members of U.S. emergency and non-emergency government officials could leave the country voluntarily. . The U.S. issued a travel instruction on April 8 in the same language regarding warnings of “arbitrary local enforcement” and restrictions on Covid-19. China is “deeply dissatisfied” and “strongly opposes” US “baseless accusations” of China’s policy on Covid, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Saturday, according to a CNBC translation of the Chinese statement. He said the announcement of a voluntary evacuation was a US decision and that the Chinese side had assisted foreign diplomats and consular staff in matters related to Covid as far as politics allowed. In recent weeks, mainland China has experienced the worst Covid outbreak since the initial pandemic in early 2020. Cases have been reported across the country, with Jilin County in northeastern Shanghai and the southeastern city of Shanghai being the hardest hit, with local authorities imposing strict stay-at-home measures and travel restrictions in an effort to control the cases. Last week, Shanghai authorities eased quarantine measures that separated parents from their children. This week, the city announced a gradual process to ease restrictions. The city had attempted one of Covid’s most targeted control policies to control a sharp rise in cases since late February, but eventually shut down the city in two phases, starting in late March – in the name of conducting mass trials. Shanghai is a hub for many foreign companies in China, while Jilin hosts many car factories. “Employees and family members will depart on commercial flights,” the U.S. mission in China said in a separate statement on Tuesday. “The Ministry ordered the departure due to the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic.”
