Shanghai authorities have put fences up outside residential buildings as China doubles down n its ‘zero-COVID’ policy, sparking fresh public outcry over a lockdown that has forced much of the city’s 25 million people indoors. Meanwhile, the authorities have ordered Beijing residents to test three times a week, sparking panic buying of food. MailOnline has more.
The largest district in Beijing… will require everyone living or working in the area to take three Covid tests this week, and put more than a dozen buildings under lockdown, after the Chinese capital reported 22 new cases on Saturday. The district, Chaoyang, is home to 3.45 million people.
The announcement set off panic buying Sunday evening, with vegetables, eggs, soy sauce and other items wiped off grocery shelves.
In Shanghai, images of workers in white hazmat suits sealing entrances of housing blocks and closing off entire streets with green fencing – roughly roughly two metres tall – went viral on social media, prompting questions and complaints from residents.
Volunteers and government workers erected metal barriers in multiple districts to block off small streets and entrances to apartment complexes.
In the city’s financial district, Pudong, the barriers – thin metal sheets or mesh fences – were put up in several neighborhoods under a local government directive, according to Caixin, a Chinese business media outlet.
Buildings where cases have been found sealed up their main entrances, with a small opening for pandemic prevention workers to pass through.
“This is so disrespectful of the rights of the people inside, using metal barriers to enclose them like domestic animals,” said one user on social media platform Weibo.
One video showed residents shouting from balconies at workers trying to set up fencing. The workers relented and took it away. Other videos showed people trying to pull fences down.
“Isn’t this a fire hazard?” asked another Weibo user.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Cindy Yu in the Spectator reports that Shanghai’s social media censors are losing control.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.