Zero Covid Strategy
Fear of lockdown: Hundreds of people flee in panic from the Ikea branch in Shanghai
The Ikea branch in Shanghai where chaotic scenes erupted over the weekend
© Xing Yun / Costfoto / Picture Alliance
Because an Ikea customer had contact with a corona-positive boy, all visitors to a branch in Shanghai should be quarantined. The health authority’s order triggered chaotic scenes in the furniture store.
Concerns about being put under corona quarantine from now on led to chaotic scenes in an Ikea branch in Shanghai on Saturday. Hundreds of customers tried to flee outside, some in panic, as health officials began sealing off the building, multiple videos posted on social media show.
The reason for the measure: A customer of the Ikea store is said to have had close contact over a long period of time with a six-year-old boy who had tested positive for the corona virus after returning from Tibet’s capital Lhasa, reports the BBC, among others.
Video shows chaotic scenes in Ikea branch
At the beginning of this year, the Shanghai government imposed a two-month house arrest on all residents of the 25 million metropolis against the background of a strict zero-Covid strategy. Apparently sheer fear of being jailed again prompted some customers to defy the order. A video shows how customers can “save” themselves from the branch at the last second. Even when security officers are already trying to block a door, people are still pushing through the ever-shrinking gap.
First quarantine, then health surveillance
The customers who did not make it out of the store on time had to stay in the branch until after midnight and were then taken to quarantine hotels, according to posts on social networks. Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the Shanghai Health Commission, said at a press conference that those affected would have to go into a two-day quarantine, followed by five days of health surveillance, according to the Shanghai Daily newspaper. According to the report, Zhao Dandan did not say when the close corona contact was in the Ikea store.
In the course of China’s zero-Covid strategy, there have recently been short-term lockdowns of entire streets. The government in Shanghai only extended mandatory corona tests until the end of September on Saturday. According to an official statement, all residents who cannot show a negative PCR test at least every seven days will have their so-called health code changed from green to yellow. The health code determines the freedom of movement of every citizen. A yellow code means that you can no longer enter most public buildings, such as shopping centers or offices.
Sources: BBC / “Shanghai Daily” /Twitter/ with DPA