Authorities in Shanghai have installed metal barriers and high fences around people’s homes to stop residents from going out in the city’s latest brutal measure to battle Covid.
The move has sparked further outrage in the city, per Reuters, where its 26 million residents are already frustrated by a harsh and indefinite lockdown.
“They might as well just burn us all inside our homes,” a user commented on the Twitter-like platform Weibo, referring to how the structures are fire hazards.
—Eva Rammeloo (@eefjerammeloo)
According to the BBC, authorities put up most of the fences in the city’s “sealed areas” — where at least one person tested positive for Covid.
The outlet interviewed a foreign national living in Shanghai who said fences were installed in his residential complex last Thursday.
“No one can get out,” he told the outlet, adding that no reason was given for the sudden fence installation. “I feel helpless. You don’t know when the lockdown is going to end.”
Meanwhile, a popular Weibo post on Saturday showing pictures of the fences in different parts of the city was reposted more than 6,500 times and garnered 18,000 likes. “Look at what the people in the sealed area look like? Heartache!” the user wrote.
Earlier this month, Shanghai-based CNN correspondent David Culver said authorities taped over his door to check if he’d left his home.
Shanghai has been under a strict lockdown since late March amid a surge of COVID-19 cases. Public anger continues to mount over the authorities’ handling of the situation, with people across the city claiming they are running out of food — and patience.
Despite the controversies, Chinese health officials have stood by what they’re calling a “dynamic” “zero-Covid” policy. That means rapid lockdowns, mass testing, and travel restrictions whenever clusters emerge.
On Sunday, the city recorded 16,983 symptomatic Covid cases and 2,472 asymptomatic cases, according to the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission.
* story by insider.com