China has experienced an exponential surge in COVID cases since March. Shanghai has been hit particularly hard among other cities. The city was in an official strict lockdown since March 28 where residents are required to stay indoors. In recent days, there was a list going around naming celebrities that were stuck in Shanghai because of the lockdown. Yang Yang (杨洋) was one of the celebrities named on the list.

On April 19, it was rumored Yang Yang was forced into quarantine in Ningbo, which is close to Shanghai. It was said that after he got out of quarantine, he would travel to neighboring city Suzhou to start filming a new series at the end of April. This led netizens to question how he can be released if he wasn’t even in Shanghai. There were even comments that said “Yang Yang escaped Shanghai”, which questioned whether Yang Yang had violated quarantine protocols to leave the city.

Yang Yang’s studio issued a statement on the same day and and expressed that rumors about Yang Yang “violating pandemic protocols”, “being returned”, and more are false. They also revealed Yang Yang was already in Suzhou preparing for his new series since early March. Afterwards, he had traveled to other cities to continue filming with the cast and crew. They expressed, “During this time, Mr. Yang Yang’s schedule is in compliance with the country’s pandemic prevention policy requirements.”

Credit: Weibo (1, 2)