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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Charlie Duffield

Shanghai Disneyland 'locks panicked guests inside park' after new Covid outbreak

Disneyland Shanghai has once again gone into lockdown, reportedly preventing thousands from leaving the Magic Kingdom after an outbreak of coronavirus.

Visitors were reportedly told to stay inside the resort until they were able to provide a negative Covid test.

Video footage posted to Chinese social media giant Weibo showed panicked guests rushing to the park's gates to escape, only to find them locked.

Approximately 60,000 visitors enter the park every day - but when 10 locally transmitted coronavirus cases were reported in Shanghai yesterday, the park was shut, even though all the cases were people without symptoms.

A Shanghai Disney Resort spokesperson said the resort was still operating "limited offerings" and that they were following measures in line with guidelines from Chinese health authorities.

Anyone who has visited the park since October 27 will now need to test for Covid three times in three days.

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 resort had on Saturday said that it had started operating with a reduced workforce to comply with COVID measures.

This photo taken on October 31, 2021 shows medical personnel preparing to test visitors for the Covid-19 coronavirus at Disneyland in Shanghai after a single coronavirus case was detected (AFP via Getty Images)

Last year the park was also shut for two days in November with more than 30,000 visitors stuck inside, after authorities ordered all of them to be tested in a contact tracing exercise.

The latest disruption for the Shanghai Disney Resort is in keeping with the nation's super strict zero-tolerance approach towards Covid.

Tourists at Disney town as Disneyland imposes social distancing measures on May 05, 2020 in Shanghai (Getty Images)

On Monday, videos on China's Weibo platform showed people rushing to the park's gates, which were sealed closed.

But the videos were not able to be verified by Reuters, and Shanghai Disney Resort did not respond when asked about on how many visitors were inside.

Local authorities across China have put in place sudden measures to stop and possible virus transmission, with The Universal Resort in the country's capital of Beijing reopening on Monday, after a five day closure, which was also prompted by virus measures.

The Shanghai government said on its official WeChat account the park was barring people from entering or exiting (Getty Images)

Several outbreaks across China have prompted rising case numbers and a tightening of local curbs and lockdowns, including Datong, Xining, Nanjing, Xian, Zhengzhou and Wuhan, forcing temporary lockdown measures.

On Sunday new cases in mainland China reached 2,898, topping 2,000 for a second straight day.

But at the Communist Party Congress, President Xi Jinping emphasised China's ongoing commitment to a zero-Covid policy, which will not be abandoned until 2024.

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