US orders consular staff to leave Shanghai amid COVID surge

BEIJING (AP) — The U.S. has ordered all non-emergency consular staff to leave Shanghai, which is under a tight lockdown to contain a COVID-19 surge. Many residents in the city of 26 million have been confined to their homes for up to three weeks as China maintains its “zero-COVID” strategy of handling outbreaks with strict isolation and mass testing. But people living under the restrictions have described an increasingly desperate situation, with families unable to obtain food and daily necessities. The State Department said the order is an upgrade from the advisory last week that made the decision to leave voluntary. China’s government and the entirely state-controlled media are growing increasingly defensive about complaints over the COVID-19 prevention measures.