BEIJING —

       China began locking down most of its largest city of Shanghai on Monday as part of its strict COVID-19 strategy, amid questions over the policy’s economic toll on the country.

       Shanghai’s Pudong financial district and nearby areas will be locked down from early Monday to Friday as citywide mass testing gets underway, the local government said. In the second phase of the lockdown, the vast downtown area west of the Huangpu River that divides the city will start its own five-day lockdown Friday.

       Residents will be required to stay home and deliveries will be left at checkpoints to ensure there is no contact with the outside world. Offices and all businesses not considered essential will be closed and public transportation suspended.

       Already, many communities within the city of 26 million have been locked down, with their residents required to submit to multiple coronavirus tests. Shanghai Disneyland is among the businesses that were closed.

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       China has reported more than 56,000 infections nationwide this month, with a surging outbreak in the northeastern province of Jilin accounting for most of them. Shanghai has had relatively few of those cases, with just 47 recorded Saturday.

       But in response to China’s biggest outbreak in two years, Beijing has continued to enforce what it calls the “dynamic zero-COVID” approach, calling that the most economical and effective prevention strategy against COVID-19.

       That requires lockdowns and mass testing, with close contacts often being quarantined at home or in a central government facility. The strategy focuses on eradicating community transmission of the virus as quickly as possible, sometimes by locking down entire cities.

       While national leaders, including President Xi Jinping, have encouraged more targeted measures, local officials tend to take a more extreme approach, concerned with being fired or otherwise punished over accusations of failing to prevent outbreaks.

       Though China’s vaccination rate stands at about 87%, it is considerably lower among older people.

       National data released this month showed that more than 52 million people aged 60 and older had yet to be vaccinated with any COVID-19 vaccine. Booster rates are also low, with 56.4% of people between 60 and 69 having received a booster shot, and 48.4% of people between 70 and 79 having received one.