Shanghai's Disney Resort has abruptly suspended operations to comply with COVID-19 prevention measures, with all visitors on site directed to stay in the park until they return a negative test for the virus.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The resort said at 11.39am local time on Monday it would immediately shut the main theme park and surrounding areas including its shopping street until further notice to comply with virus curbs.
The Shanghai government said on its official WeChat account the park was barring people from entering or exiting and that all visitors inside the site would need to await the results of their tests before they could leave.
Anyone who had visited the park since October 27 would need to test for COVID-19 three times in three days, it said.
Neither the Shanghai government nor the Disney resort gave further details. The resort had on Saturday said that it had started operating with a reduced workforce to comply with COVID measures.
The theme park continued to operate rides for visitors stuck in the park during the closure on Monday, social media users reported.
Shanghai reported 10 locally transmitted cases for October 30, all of which it said were people without symptoms.
The closure marks the latest disruption for the Shanghai Disney Resort, which was shut for over three months during Shanghai's lockdown earlier this year.
The park was also closed for two days in November last year with more than 30,000 visitors stuck inside, after authorities ordered all of them to be tested in a contact tracing exercise.
Videos circulating on China's Weibo platform on Monday showed people rushing to the park's gates, which were already locked.
Local authorities across China have continued to impose abrupt and extreme measures to cut any possibility of virus transmission once cases arise, in line with the country's ultra-strict zero-tolerance approach towards COVID-19.
Australian Associated Press
