Frightened customers fled an IKEA branch in Shanghai after the city’s health authorities ordered the store closed, after a corona patient was diagnosed there. In videos posted on social media, customers are seen shouting and pushing each other in an attempt to escape the building before the doors close.
People in #China trying to escape as #IKEA #Shanghai was getting full lockdown spontaneously due to #Covid_19#CCP pic.twitter.com/jO25nQkjPi
— Breaking News Worldwide (@FelizKarenP1) August 16, 2022
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Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the Shanghai Health Commission, said the “store and infected area” would be under “quarantine” for two days. Also, the people who were in the store must go into isolation in a government facility for about two days and will then have to be under health surveillance for about five days. On Monday, the city’s health authorities reported six locally transmitted corona cases in the city, of which five were asymptomatic.
Shanghai, China’s financial capital and home to 25 million people, went into a two-month lockdown earlier this year, leading to widespread public outrage as residents reported difficulties ordering everyday food and medicine. The lockdown was imposed under China’s stringent zero-covid policy, which relies on mass testing, widespread lockdowns and even the “lockdown” of entire cities, to fend off any resurgence of the virus.
CHAOTIC SCENES, AFTER A NOTICE OF A POSITIVE CVID TEST RESULT INSIDE A BUILDING IN YANGPU DISTRICT IN SHANGHAI!
People fled outside the building to avoid getting locked in.#BreakingNews #Yangpu #Shanghai #Lockdown #Lockdown #China #IKEA #Shanghai #Covid_19 #CCP pic.twitter.com/mHUlGRxY2m— Breaking News Worldwide (@FelizKarenP1) August 16, 2022
Relying on mobile technology and big data, the Chinese government is using a color-based “health code” system to control people’s movements and curb the spread of the virus. People in many Chinese cities must present a green health QR code to travel on public transport and enter places including shopping malls, gyms and restaurants. The system records their whereabouts and whether they have been in contact with someone confirmed to have the virus. Those whose health codes turn red face quarantine in the quarantine facilities.
Last week, more than 80,000 tourists were stranded on the popular resort island of Inan after authorities announced lockdown measures to contain the virus outbreak.