Beijing authorities have imposed a strict "entry only, no exit" rule outside of a residential complex amid growing discontent over the region's stringent lockdowns aimed to curb the spread of the recent COVID-19 outbreak.
China has shown few signs of loosening its zero-COVID strategy as the nation continues to struggle against its worst outbreak in the last two years. Many businesses have already started operating again in Shanghai and the northern parts of the region.
China's COVID-19 Situation
But the country's capital temporarily closed on Friday a large luxury mall and non-essential businesses in one area to control the rising number of infections. The cases stem from the highly transmissible Omicron variant that has dominated several nations.
At a meeting on Friday, China's top leaders said that COVID and Russia's unprovoked war on Ukraine have made the challenges even more difficult. The state media added that the factors caused great uncertainties for the domestic economy, as per CNBC.
Fenced-in residents in China's financial hub started to protest against the lockdown and difficulties in obtaining provisions. People could be seen banging on pots and pans in the evenings in a show of discontent.
One video that was shared on social media, which was not immediately verified to be authentic, showed one woman warning a group of people not to do so, saying that such gestures were being encouraged by "outsiders." The Shanghai government did not immediately reply to requests for comments regarding the situation.
According to Reuters, Beijing authorities were in a race against time to detect COVID-19 cases and immediately isolate people who have been exposed to them. A 51-year-old Polish resident, Joanna Szklarska, was ordered into quarantine at a hotel as a close contact. However, she refused to share the room with her neighbor because it only had one bed.
Growing Discontent for Lockdowns
Authorities sent her back home and they installed a front door alarm before she was later called back into the hotel and given a room of her own. In a phone interview, the English-language consultant said that nothing was making sense with what Chinese officials were doing.
Shanghai has become the center of the latest outbreak, recording upwards of 15,000 new cases of the coronavirus every day. Authorities have imposed the city-wide lockdown for several weeks now, confining roughly 25 million residents to their homes or neighborhoods.
Beijing, on the other hand, has launched mass testing exercises and opted to temporarily shut down schools, and imposed targeted lockdowns on some residential buildings. The efforts were made in an attempt to rein in the spread of the disease. However, the decision has only sparked outrage among residents.
China's zero-COVID strategy involves lockdowns, mass testing, quarantines, and border closures to contain the spread of the deadly virus. But with the arrival of the Omicron variant, the sustainability of the policy has been put into question. This is because the new strain has been spreading to various cities in the region much faster than the government is able to handle, causing widespread fear and panic, CNN reported.
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