Covid

Fences around COVID-hit buildings spark fresh outcry in Shanghai over lockdown rules

FILE PHOTO: A medical worker in a protective suit collects swab from a resident at a makeshift nucleic acid testing site inside a residential compound under lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China April 19, 2022. REUTERS/Xihao Jiang/File Photo

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Citizens in Shanghai are getting fed up, to say the least, over the harsh COVID regulations being imposed in response to the country’s worst outbreak since Wuhan. Now, metal fences have been put up outside COVID-hit buildings, sparking a fresh outcry. On social media, residents have fought censorship, criticizing the lack of food and medicine and the heavy-handed lockdown enforcement.

Shanghai lockdown — Green fences seal entrances to shops and housing units along a street, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China April 24, 2022. REUTERS/Jacqueline Wong

Alibaba’s supermarket chain Freshippo said that it was adding more delivery people to its service but that still wouldn’t be enough to keep up with the rise in demand from the lockdown. The company said it had recovered to 60-70% of delivery capacity but was still dealing with some issues.

Key comments:

“The biggest challenge we are facing now is that the demand and numbers of orders from consumers has increased by about two to three times compared with pre-outbreak levels," said Shen Li, a vice president at Alibaba Group’s Freshippo.

“I can only say that if you don’t even want to listen to just a small amount of real voices, then it is really hopeless," said one Weibo user, referring to the Chinese government’s censorship of criticism on the platform.