China
Corona case numbers in Shanghai are increasing despite lockdowns
Vendors in hazmat suits carry bags of groceries to the gate of a housing complex. Photo: Uncredited/AP/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Despite the announcement of gradual easing on Monday, the majority of the metropolis, which has a population of 26 million, is still in lockdown. There is increasing resentment about the situation.
Despite the strict lockdown in Shanghai, the number of corona infections in the eastern Chinese port city continues to rise.
Authorities on Wednesday reported a high of 26,330 reported new infections the previous day. The great majority of cases are asymptomatic. Shanghai is at the center of the largest corona wave in China since the pandemic began more than two years ago and has most of the almost 28,000 cases nationwide.
Private traffic prohibited – shops closed
Despite the announcement of gradual easing on Monday, the vast majority of the metropolis, which has a population of 26 million, continues to be affected by curfews. The city government also banned private traffic on the streets for residents who were allowed to leave their homes on Wednesday. However, most shops remain closed. At Volkswagen, plants in Shanghai and in Changchun in north-east China continued to stand still.
Although the curfews are to be lifted in residential areas in Shanghai where there has been no infection in the past two weeks, the neighborhood committees or property management companies have urged residents not to leave their apartments or the housing complex out of caution. So it was unclear how many people would actually benefit from the easing.
Growing resentment among the population
In the economic and financial center of China, there is growing resentment about insufficient food supplies, problems with medical care or the separation of infected children from their parents due to quarantine. There are even complaints of starvation from isolated residents and unconfirmed reports of deaths from patients who cannot get to hospital quickly enough for treatment for illnesses other than Covid-19.
The world’s most populous country has been following a strict zero-Covid strategy quite successfully for the past two years, allowing life to largely run as normal. However, its strict methods such as curfews, mass tests, forced quarantine and isolation from foreign countries have lost their effectiveness due to the rapidly spreading omicron variant BA.2. In Shanghai, tens of thousands are housed in makeshift quarantine camps, sometimes under difficult circumstances.