Covid infections are finally falling in Shanghai. The city reported just over 2,000 cases on Tuesday, down from over 27,000 at its peak a month ago. Yet instead of regaining their freedom, locals have been hit by tighter lockdown restrictions. Even the World Health Organisation, which typically shies away from criticising China, is urging Beijing to rethink its approach. Its director Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he does not think China’s Covid policy is ‘sustainable considering the behaviour of the virus’. But President Xi Jinping is blocking his ears.
Over the weekend, reports emerged of people in Shanghai being taken into quarantine simply for living in the same building as positive cases. The hashtag ‘One person tests positive, whole block gets quarantined’ went viral on Weibo. In some areas, local authorities have reportedly started a so-called ‘quiet period’ where even delivery drivers are not allowed to drop off food, while others are breaking through doors to get to residents who refuse to budge.
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