Happiest Place on Earth? 34,000 Patrons of Shanghai Disneyland Locked Inside Over One Covid Case

The People’s Republic has implemented some of the most stringent anti-coronavirus measures in the world, sticking to a ‘Covid-zero’ strategy which includes strict border controls, compulsory pre- and post-flight quarantine for overseas travelers, and a rigorous PCR testing regimen. The country has administered 2.27 billion Covid vaccines.

Tens of thousands of Shanghai Disneyland patrons and employees were temporarily locked inside the ‘Magic Kingdom’ on Sunday after single patron tested positive for Covid-19 after returning to her home city of Hangzhou after visiting the theme park.

Health authorities and police descended on the theme park, with nearly 34,000 patrons trapped inside until they submitted express Covid tests. Indoor venues were closed, and new visitors were turned away at entrances. Authorities also shut down a subway line connecting the park to the rest of the city, and deployed over 200 buses to the theme park to take patrons and employees home for mandatory self-isolation.

In accordance with stringent Chinese guidelines, patrons and workers were required to take a second Covid test Monday.

Guidelines were also issued for those who visited the park between Saturday and Sunday to stay home for at least two days, and keep an eye on their health situation for the next twelve days.

The theme park, co-owned by Chinese construction company Shanghai Shendi and the Walt Disney Company, has been shuttered until at least Tuesday. “We will notify guests as soon as we have a confirmed date to resume operations,” Disney said in a statement.

Footage from the park shot Sunday evening showed a whimsical situation of police and hazmat-suit-clad medical workers administering tests as fireworks rang out in the night sky above the park’s landmark castle, and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Waltz Number 2 played in the background.

While chasing down every possible Covid contact in Shanghai Disneyland, the management ensure that guests are entertained ! Music up ! pic.twitter.com/t0RXvdC2ds

— Michael Humphries (@michael16232450) November 1, 2021

#Shanghai #Disneyland momentarily shut down due to COVID-19 case, all guests were tested prior to leaving the park - WDWNTpic.twitter.com/MgQAUXibEW

— The Modern Times of Long Beach 🌎 (@ModernTimesLB) November 1, 2021

【パーク閉鎖】10/30にインパークしたゲストに陽性者1人が判明されたため、31日夕方から上海ディズニーランドが閉鎖へ。園内にいるゲストとキャスト全員PCR検査へ。#ShanghaiDisneyland #SHDL #上海ディズニーランド #Disney #Disneypark #Disneyland pic.twitter.com/hnNGDXqLDn

— CHINA8 (@CHINA815890545) October 31, 2021

Shanghai Disneyland has been closed this afternoon following a suspected COVID-19 outbreak. It is said that 60,000 visitors are lining up for viral tests. pic.twitter.com/0PVtDr8u9M

— ATP_Asian Tech Press (@AsianTechPress) October 31, 2021

The Covid scare coincided with the theme park’s Halloween carnival.

On Monday, the Shanghai office for coronavirus prevention and control said all 33,863 tests administered at the park came back negative.

China’s Covid Strategy

China reported 92 new coronavirus cases on Monday – a high for a nation that has typically reported cases in the low double digits since August.

Over one-and-a-half years after the pandemic first began in Wuhan, China continues to have some of the strictest measures in the world in place to combat the virus. This includes putting residential complexes, districts, or even entire cities on lockdown at the drop of a hat after small numbers of cases are reported (up to six million residents of the country are currently locked down), and measures to discourage travel – both inside the country and internationally.

China has distributed over 2.2 billion coronavirus vaccines, enough for as much as 80 percent of the country population, and vaccines have been mandated for children as young as three years old in some provinces.

China’s coronavirus vaccines are produced by Sinovac and Sinopharm. Both are inactivated jabs made from viral particles produced in a lab, and injected to activate an immune response and the production of antibodies.

China’s coronavirus response has been praised by proponents of mass vaccination campaigns and a zero-tolerance approach to the virus, but criticized by others for their ‘authoritarianism’ amid suggestions from medical experts that humanity will have to learn to live with the virus, and that it will eventually infect everyone, mutate to become less lethal and turn into an endemic. China has dismissed these criticisms, pointing to its successes in keeping death rates low, and suggesting that their zero-Covid strategy is the only way to end the pandemic.