Shanghai widens COVID testing as other Chinese cities impose curbs

Shanghai on Friday announced a record 21,000 new cases and a third consecutive day of Covid testing as a lockdown of its 26 million people showed no sign of easing and other Chinese cities tightened curbs - even in places with no recent infections.

Beijing intervened in Shanghai after the failure of its effort to isolate Covid by locking the city down in stages, and insists that the country stick to its zero COVID policy that it says is essential to keeping death rates low and preventing its medical system from breaking down.

Local authorities across China, which have mostly managed to