Disney's flagship theme park in China has joined thousands of local cinemas and schools in shutting its doors amid the COVID wave.
Disney is shutting down its entire facility in Shanghai, including Shanghai Disneyland, the Disneytown shopping and dining district, and the adjacent Wishing Star Park.
“We will continue to monitor the pandemic situation and consult local authorities, and will notify guests as soon as we have a confirmed date to resume operations,” the company said in a statement. On Saturday, China reported 1,656 new locally transmitted COVID cases, compared to only about 70 cases at the start of March. The more transmissible omicron variant is straining the country’s strategy of fully eliminating the virus within national borders. China also reported two COVID deaths over the weekend — the first such fatalities in over a year.
Along with Jilin Province and the southern tech center of Shenzhen, Shanghai is one of several major population centers in China struggling to strike a balance between strict virus prevention measures and limited impacts on the local economy. Schools, cinemas and entertainment venues across much of Shanghai are currently closed, and further lockdowns could come as a city-wide testing program progresses.
Shanghai Disneyland was the first Disney theme park to shut down because of the pandemic in early 2020. All of Disney’s parks across the globe later followed. Shanghai was then the first to reopen in May 2020. But in late October, over 30,000 guests were temporarily locked inside the theme park and forced to take Covid-19 tests after a single visitor tested positive for the virus.
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