As COVID cases soar in Shanghai, citizens plead for basic essentials like food, medicines

Food and medicine shortages have left residents in China's largest metropolis anxious and disgruntled as officials fight to contain a COVID-19 epidemic. Shanghai, obliged to apply Beijing's strict "dynamic zero" Covid approach, conducted two four-day lockdowns on each side of the Huangpu River. However, when the number of cases of the infectious Omicron increased fast, officials tightened restrictions on portions of the city's financial zone in eastern Pudong.

Cries for aid flooded social media this weekend before being erased by censors, as the city's case count surpassed that of Hong Kong, which had the highest death rate in the world in March.

Also Read | China: Shanghai imposes lockdown to curb COVID-19 outbreak

Parents also begged for assistance after being removed from their young children if they or their children tested positive. According to state media, Zeng Qun, deputy chief of the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, temporary guardians will be sought for children who were not affected but were forced to stay at home alone after their parents were transported to quarantine centres.

Last week, EU states urged local authorities to avoid separating children from their parents and to provide adequate treatment for those with non-Covid emergency medical conditions.

Also Read | 'Stay indoors, leave only to get COVID test': China's Shanghai tightens lockdown rules

• COVID
• Shanghai
• social media
• coronavirus
• Hong Kong
• China