Shanghai Disney authorities abruptly shut down the resort and locked down all resort-goers inside on Monday in order to comply with China's strict zero-COVID policies until they are able to get a negative test.
The resort's officials announced at 11:39 a.m. local time that they would immediately shut the main theme park and its surrounding areas, including its shopping street, until further notice. In a statement on its official WeChat account, the Shanghai government said that the park prevented people from entering or exiting.
Shanghai Disney Lockdown
All visitors who were inside at the time of the announcement would be required to wait for the results of their tests before they are allowed to leave the premises. Any individual who visited the park since Oct. 26 was also required to test for the coronavirus three times in three days, the statement said.
Despite the announcement, the theme park continued to operate rides for visitors who were stuck in the park during the closure on Monday. A spokesperson for Shanghai Disney Resort said that rides were still operating "limited offerings" and that they were following measures in line with guidelines from Chinese health authorities, as per Reuters.
On Saturday, the resort said that it had started operating with a reduced workforce in order to comply with the country's COVID-19 protocols. Shanghai reported 10 locally transmitted cases for October 30, all of which were found to be in people who showed symptoms of the illness.
The closure of the Shanghai Disney Resort marks the latest disruption for the theme park after it was shut for more than three months during the region's lockdown that was ordered earlier this year. Furthermore, the park also closed for two days in November last year while there were more than 30,000 visitors inside.
According to BBC, China's controversial zero-COVID policy has already forced millions of people to be placed under repeated lockdowns, sometimes in unusual areas. The lockdowns have also forced people to flee shops, including a Shanghai branch of Swedish furniture giant Ikea, and workplaces as they attempt to prevent themselves from getting trapped.
China's Strict COVID-19 Lockdowns
While authorities did not provide a date of when the theme park will reopen, they also said that tickets will be valid for six months and refunds will be given. The sudden closure comes as China continues to impose abrupt and sometimes extreme measures in order to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus.
In the Asian nation, millions of citizens are under 200 different lockdowns as of October 25 as the country, which has a population of roughly 1.45 billion, consistently records more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases per day.
Despite the sudden and large-scale lockdown of the resort, it was unclear what actually forced authorities to enforce the protocol. On the other hand, Disney officials said they were required to follow COVID-19 prevention procedures that were set by Shanghai authorities,
China is still one of the few countries that continue to enforce strict limitations on the activity of its residents to combat the health crisis. Many citizens have already grown weary and frustrated by the lockdowns, with protests breaking out in Shanghai this year, the Washington Post reported.