China digs in for permanent zero-Covid with testing and quarantine regime

China is building hundreds of thousands of permanent coronavirus testing facilities and expanding quarantine centres across many of its biggest cities as part of its zero-Covid policy, despite the economic and human toll on the world's most populous country. Residents of Shanghai woke up on Thursday to an announcement that lockdown measures and mass testing would be conducted in the Minhang district, home to more than 2mn people, for at least two days. The directive was issued just a week after President Xi Jinping's administration declared victory in defending the city from the pandemic after a punishing two-month lockdown. Tough…