Residents of the Chinese city of Shanghai have complained about the lack of food and medicine and the inability to access other essential goods as the city’s lockdown continues, according to the newspaper.The Guardian“.
And the British newspaper said that stories of despair in Shanghai appeared on social media after the strict closure was extended to curb the outbreak of the new Corona virus.
The city’s lockdown was extended indefinitely earlier this week after previous restrictions failed to contain the rising infection, as city officials had promised that the phased shutdown would end on April 5.
Supermarkets remain closed and there are restrictions on delivery services, making it difficult for millions of residents in the city to get food.
Despite strict measures to combat the epidemic that returned to China after it first appeared in late 2019, Shanghai’s cases continued to rise, as the city recorded more than 20,000 new infections, Friday.
Drones hovered over the city earlier this week, warning people on balconies to protest against staying at home, as a video clip on social media in China showed.
There were also signs that medical volunteers recruited from outside the city to help fight the epidemic were also struggling to get food.
“Are the supplies just for locals in Shanghai?…Why aren’t the goods and supplies allotted to us?” a medical volunteer said in a video posted on social media, in which she was seen crying.
Faced with criticism over the separation of parents from their children, the Shanghai government said two days ago that it would relax the policy slightly to allow parents to accompany children if they are also infected. But children will remain separated from their parents who are not infected with COVID-19.
Human rights groups have expressed growing concern about the draconian restrictions imposed on Shanghai’s 26 million residents that have severely crippled daily life and business.
Commenting on reports that some elderly people have died during the lockdown after not being able to access vital medicines, Maya Wang, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the consequences could be very dire.