Shanghai residents question lockdown with 'no end in sight' as they starve without food

Residents in China’s largest city and financial hub Shanghai who have been put under a stringent lockdown since April 1 in accordance with China's "zero covid" policy, are now questioning quarantine measures with "no end in sight". The 26 million inhabitants are "dreading" as they are prohibited to leave their homes, and are "starving to death" having to depend on government ration supply marred with umpteen logistical challenges, according to several reports.

'Much, much more cases than during the 2019 peak in Wuhan'

While initially, Shanghai authorities were planning phased restrictions, the significant COVID-19 case spike prompted them to lock down the entire financial capital at once and launch mass COVID-19 testing sites. But residents are now taking to China-based twitter-like app Weibo to complain about food shortage, starvation, bad apps, and many other woes as the city recorded 21,000 positive cases. "When people start to bang their pots and scream 'we want supplies' you know it's not the Shanghai you used to know," a Weibo post translated to the English language, read. "

"There are much, much more cases than at the peak in Wuhan," a Chinese journalist in Shanghai who has been in quarantine for two weeks wrote on social media. She added that the Chinese government abiding by the Zero-Covid policy is putting residents in serious situations.

Elsewhere in Shanghai, as residents opened their balconies to sing during the lockdown, a drone appeared to announce: “Please comply w covid restrictions. Control your soul’s desire for freedom. Do not open the window or sing.” It went on to echo the message, "comply with Covid restrictions, control your desire for freedom." While residents have complained about a lack of food delivery options and supply delays, Chinese authorities have acknowledged on the state media that distributing food has lagged behind also admitting that there aren't enough supplies for the population as most essential workers and delivery staff are under quarantine.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, the first group of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 leave a makeshift hospital converted from the Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of International Sourcing in Shanghai. Credit: AP

Credit: AP

"It’s chaos. It’s a very populous city and there are so many people that I don’t think the governmental supply is enough," another Chinese journalist described the situation on Weibo and Twitter post separately. Asymptomatic COVID-19 cases are also reportedly facing a government quarantine centre in what is being described city's biggest-ever COVID outbreak.

Lockdown measures that were scheduled to end on April 5 were extended "indifinitely" as Chinese authorities scrambled to launch city-wide testing to trace and isolate cases. The wave being witnessed in Beijing is "most severe" than the peak when Wuhan became the epicenter at the end of 2019, according to the accounts of Chinese reporters. As many as 2,000 military medics have been deployed to assist in the testing and quarantine procedures.