The US State Department has ordered all non-emergency consulate staff in Shanghai to leave the city amid its COVID-19 lockdown

A deliveryman rides along a near-empty street in Shanghai on April 9. Zhou You/VCG via Getty Images

• The US has recalled non-essential consulate employees in Shanghai, citing the city's outbreak response.
• Shanghai's 26 million residents have been in lockdown for weeks over an Omicron outbreak.
• Authorities say they're struggling to distribute food stockpiles amid the stringent restrictions.

The US State Department has ordered non-essential employees working in its Shanghai consulate to leave the city, citing "a surge in COVID-19 cases" and the city's outbreak response that has resulted in a harsh lockdown for 26 million residents.

In an updated travel advisory on Monday, the State Department also urged Americans not to travel to Shanghai due to the heightened restrictions and warned of "the risk of parents and children being separated" upon arrival.

Shanghai initially declared a twin-phase lockdown on March 28 to stamp out an Omicron outbreak as part of China's "zero-Covid" strategy, keeping residents in the eastern half of the city at home for four days, followed by curbs in the western half for another four days.

However, as Covid cases continued to rise, restrictions for the entire city were extended indefinitely, rendering the streets of one of the world's busiest cities empty.

Public transport has also been suspended in Shanghai, while most businesses like restaurants and shopping malls have been ordered to close. Residents are not allowed to leave their homes, even to dispose of trash, buy food, or walk their dogs. Healthcare workers, volunteers, and delivery personnel are currently the only people allowed outside.

With food markets closed and delivery services overloaded, residents have become increasingly concerned about the lack of access to groceries and essential goods. The city has enough food reserves, but the lockdown's restrictions have stalled distribution and last-mile deliveries, Shanghai's Vice Mayor Chen Tong said on April 7.

China also appears to have censored social media posts discussing the food shortage, saying it was rooting out "misleading" online information, Insider's Waiyee Yip and Weilun Soon previously reported.

Shanghai reported 25,173 new asymptomatic infections on Sunday, per Reuters, its highest daily count yet.

However, as they face pressure to reopen the city, local authorities said they would group neighborhoods into three risk categories and eventually allow residents to leave their homes for "appropriate" activities if their area reported zero infections, the outlet reported.