Shanghai: Green fences baffle locked down residents

    Image credit: BBC

    Fences have been built to restrict the movement of the population amid Shanghai’s current COVID epidemic.

    Green barricades have sprouted outside buildings without warning, preventing people from exiting. A green fence appeared inside his locked-up enclosure three days ago, according to one inhabitant.

    Shanghai’s 25 million residents have been confined to their homes for weeks as officials attempt to curb the city’s greatest COVID spike to date.

    It was unclear why officials started erecting the walls right away. One local authority, according to an online notification dated April 23, was implementing a “strict quarantine” in several locations.

    The man, who did not want to be recognised, claimed his compound’s main gate was chained up three weeks ago after one of his neighbours tested positive for the virus. He claimed workers built a new barrier without warning.

    While some city authorities were busy erecting barriers, others were attempting to suppress a popular film depicting the city’s lockdown’s impact on its citizens.

    Unverified audio samples of the local populace criticising poor food supplies and complaining about medical problems are included in the six-minute montage.

    Although public criticism of official policies is uncommon in China, some Shanghai residents have expressed their dissatisfaction on social media platforms in recent weeks.

    Some residents in Shanghai’s enclaves say they’ve been unable to obtain food and have been forced to wait for government deliveries of vegetables, meat, and eggs.

    Other recent city initiatives include the installation of electronic door alarms to prevent infected individuals from fleeing and the forcible removal of people to allow their homes to be cleansed.

    In addition, all infected patients and their close contacts have been required to be transported to a government-run centralised quarantine.

    On Sunday, Shanghai recorded 39 COVID deaths, a new high for the city, as well as more than 21,000 new infections.

    China, unlike many other countries, is pursuing a zero-Covid approach to totally eliminate the virus from the country.

    While early lockdowns were successful in keeping infection levels low, later lockdowns have struggled to contain more transmissible modern forms of the virus.

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