Report: the tightening of containment in Shanghai exasperates a breathless population

Published on: 05/13/2022 – 22:48 Shanghai, with its 26 million inhabitants, has been totally confined for six weeks, without the “zero case” objective expected by the authorities being achieved. Sanitary measures have tightened further this week, exasperating an already tested population. Report by our correspondents Lou Kisiela, Antoine Morel and Yan Chen. Shanghai has been in total lockdown for six weeks now. Yet in China’s most populous city, the “zero Covid-19 cases” goal has still not been reached. This week, sanitary measures have been further tightened. Even people who test negative can be sent to solitary confinement, but in front of the representatives of the authorities, no one can contest the orders. The return to normal does not seem to be for tomorrow in the Chinese economic capital, where no date for deconfinement has been announced. The proliferation of palisades and police roadblocks paralyzes the daily life of the inhabitants a little more each day, who see the sanitary rules tightening. A fear is now looming: being forced into isolation, without even being tested positive for Covid-19. A single positive case can indeed lead to the confinement of all the occupants of its building. On amateur images, we can see representatives of the security forces threatening to force a door, or brutally seizing a woman to force her to leave her home. And justify their processes: “Don’t ask me why! There is no why! Respect the national regulations for the control of the pandemic! It’s like that!” Unable to shop anymore, many only count on weekly deliveries provided by the local authorities for food. Which are sometimes lacking, sometimes pushing a starving population to come to blows against the police. The distress and anger of the confined seem to increase the repression: other amateur images show a man bound from head to toe with adhesive tape, suspected of having broken health rules. The WHO judged Wednesday May 11 the health policy Chinese unsustainable, but the message from the authorities relayed by the official media remains the same: the “zero Covid strategy” is the only valid one, and History will prove that it is scientific. Shanghai is far from being the only metropolis to reconnect with containment. More than forty Chinese cities are completely or partially paralyzed. Even Beijing, the capital now lives in slow motion. With the reason, officially less than 1,000 cases of Covid-19 identified in three weeks.