Indian consulate in Shanghai shuts down in-person services as COVID situation worsens

In the wake of the worsening COVID-19 situation in China, the Indian consulate in Shanghai has suspended their in-person consular services due to rising positive cases in the country. As China’s Shanghai continues to remain sealed amid the sharp rise in Covid-19 infections, the Consulate General of India will remain inaccessible and will not be in a position to provide consular services in person,” the consulate said in a statement, adding, however, consular services will remain functional remotely. The consulate did not indicate when it would resume in-person services given the uncertainty over the outbreak situation in the city.

Shanghai reported 25,141 new locally-transmitted asymptomatic coronavirus cases for Tuesday, up from 22,348 a day earlier, with symptomatic cases also rising to 1,189 from 994, city authorities said in their daily bulletin on Wednesday. China has been battling a worst COVID outbreak since the first ever case was reported in the country two years ago. The government has adopted a zero covid strategy to combat the current spread of the virus. Residents have complained of food shortage due to and horrifying videos have emerged showing Shanghai residents screaming from their windows over strict COVID lockdown measures that prevent them from leaving home even for basic essentials. In a clip posted online by a Twitter user that he said was taken by the father of his close friend who reported that "people (are) screaming outside of their windows after a week of total lockdown" because they "can't even step outside their apartments".