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A top Shanghai official conceded yesterday the city was "insufficiently prepared" for its latest Covid outbreak as criticism mounted over lockdowns.

The city of 25 million has been split in two as part of a rolling lockdown plan to battle China's worst outbreak in two years.

The spread of the Omicron variant is testing the zero-Covid strategy, which aims to crush virus clusters as soon as they emerge.

Residents in the eastern half of Shanghai have been confined to their homes since Monday and subjected to testing, with restrictions switching to the more populated west today, which has 16 million residents.

The curbs, which kicked in hours after being announced on Sunday, spurred panic-buying at supermarkets and sent vegetable prices surging.

Top official Ma Chunlei made a rare admission of failure, saying authorities were "insufficiently prepared for the substantial increase in infected people ... and are working hard to improve" with more resources for testing and isolation.

Puxi resident Dong Jun said his district was unexpectedly placed under lockdown on Wednesday, or two days ahead of the official start.

Shanghai reported more than 5,600 positive cases yesterday, most of them asymptomatic.

People walk around the Bund in Shanghai's Puxi district, which will be placed under a coronavirus lockdown beginning today. AFP

Shanghai 'insufficiently prepared' for outbreak