China's COVID curbs strand Shanghai Disney visitors
STORY: Video obtained by Reuters showed a huge crowd of visitors stranded at Disney's Shanghai resort on Monday, after the park abruptly suspended operations to comply with COVID-19 prevention measures.
All visitors at the time of the announcement were told they could not to leave the resort until they return a negative COVID test.
Reuters reporter Josh Horwitz was camped outside the subway station near the entrance of the park.
"Normally at this hour is about 8:00 PM. We would see a steady trickle of guests leaving the park and hopping on the subway to head home. However, it's dead silent. Hundreds of guests have been stuck inside the park for several hours. Our team here has been waiting for about three hours. And with us are several other individuals that are waiting for friends or family, or loved ones... We've been told just by Hawkins security and then some Disney staffers who have steadily been given official permission to leave that the test results have been received. So, anyone who has been tested inside the park throughout and maybe about six or seven hours ago. They should know what their results are. If it's positive or negative. But as far as we know, we don't know if there have been any confirmed positive cases since the mass testing took place. And we also have yet to receive any official updates as to when the guests will be let out of the park."
The lockdown at Shanghai Disney comes as COVID restrictions are once again gripping China, threatening new disruptions to daily life, as well as to the global economy and critical supply chains.
A Foxconn plant in central China that makes iPhones and employs about 200,000 people has been on lockdown for days.
Many have fled the facility - some climbing fences to escape - prompting nearby cities to draw up plans to isolate workers returning to their hometowns.
A source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters that iPhone production at the facility could drop as much as 30% next month and that Foxconn is working to boost production at another factory to make up for the shortfall.
Rising case numbers from outbreaks across China have prompted a tightening of local curbs and lockdowns.
At the recent twice-in-a-decade Communist Party Congress, President Xi Jinping reiterated China's commitment to its zero-COVID policy, disappointing investors and countless Chinese frustrated by lockdowns, travel curbs and testing.
