The State Department ordered non-essential US government employees and their families to leave Shanghai on Monday.
The injunction was issued in reaction to the COVID-19 instances and the impact of Chinese government limitations.
“The PRC and Hong Kong governments’ zero-tolerance policy to COVID-19 adversely disrupts travel and access to public services,” the department stated in a travel alert, referring to the country’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.
Due to COVID-19-related restrictions, including the potential of parents and children being separated, the government further advised Americans to reconsider traveling to China, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Jilin province, and Shanghai municipality.
Shanghai, China’s most populated metropolis, is one of the areas hardest hit by an extraordinary viral outbreak, with more than 100,000 illnesses reported in March alone.
Authorities in Shanghai extended a lockdown and restrictions for an indeterminate period earlier this month, and have been conducting a citywide campaign to put the city’s millions of people to the test.