The resurgence of coronavirus in China grows: anxiety and empty shelves due to the quarantine in Shanghai

Shanghai registered a sharp increase in covid-19 cases this Tuesday despite the partial confinement decreed in this city of some 25 million inhabitants, the economic capital of Chinawhich caused a stampede towards supermarkets.

Millions of people experienced a second day of confinement after the authorities divided the city in two and residents of the eastern half were confined to their homes for four days and subjected to mandatory tests.

SIGHT: China orders confinement of millions of people in Shanghai due to coronavirus outbreak

China on Tuesday reported 6,886 cases of covid-19 throughout the country, of which more than 4,400 were detected in Shanghaiepicenter of the worst outbreak since the pandemic began.

The shelves of some supermarkets in the city were completely empty, as residents rushed to stock up before they closed.

“After not being able to buy anything this morning, I went back to sleep and the only thing I dreamed about was buying food at the supermarket,” wrote a user on Weibo, a Chinese social network similar to Twitter. “I never would have thought that today’s society would have to worry about buying food,” he added.

Shoppers rummage through empty supermarket shelves before the coronavirus lockdown in Shanghai on March 29, 2022. (Héctor RETAMAL / AFP)

In an attempt to keep the economy Shanghai in operation, the authorities avoided the strict confinements that apply in other Chinese cities and opted this time for localized and progressive restrictions.

The area confined Monday is the sprawling Pudong district in the east, which includes the main international airport and a financial hub.

The lockdown will last until Friday, and then it will apply to Puxi, a more populated area in the west, where the historic area of ​​the Bund is located, along the river.

Adrian Sim, a resident of Shanghaitold AFP there were no places available to pick up food bought online and that the supermarkets in your neighborhood were full of people when. “The people you saw on the street were carrying the purchase,” explained this 41-year-old man.

Situation “pretty bad”

Various exhibition centers Shanghai they were converted into quarantine centers with beds lined up next to each other.

A resident of Shanghai surnamed Wang told AFP he had been in a quarantine center in Pudong since Saturday after testing positive.

“The conditions of the improvised quarantine center I am in are quite harsh,” he said, explaining that there are some 2,500 field beds grouped in the main room. “Bathroom conditions are not good enough, they are cleaned twice a day but there are too many people [usándolos]. The situation is pretty bad,” she assured.

The city’s airports, train stations and international seaports continue to operate and major manufacturers have been allowed to resume activity after a brief stoppage, state media reported.

China largely managed to contain the coronavirus over the past two years by applying a zero-tolerance policy, which involves massive lockdowns of cities and provinces, even if the number of cases is small. But the omicron variant is proving more difficult to eradicate.

Source: Elcomercio