Shanghai battles record COVID cases amidst concerns over basic supplies

Shanghai, China’s financial centre and the country’s most populous city, reported record COVID-19 cases on Sunday as residents voiced complaints over food and basic supplies.

Streets of the locked-down hub of 26 million people remained deserted as curbs under the government’s “zero tolerance” policy allowed only healthcare workers, volunteers, delivery personnel or those with special permission to go out.

At nearly 25,000, Shanghai’s case numbers are small compared to some cities globally, but it represents China’s worst COVID outbreak since the virus emerged in the central city of Wuhan in 2019. Of the local cases reported on Sunday, 1,006 were symptomatic while 23,937 were classed as asymptomatic.

Shanghai has become a test bed for China’s elimination strategy, which seeks to test, trace and centrally quarantine all COVID-positive people to stem the spread of the virus.

The harsh measures have affected supplies of food and other essentials. Many supermarkets have been shut and thousands of couriers locked in. Access to medical care has also been a concern. Online videos show residents struggling with security personnel and hazmat-suited medical staff at some compounds in recent days, with occupants shouting that they need food.

Executives for e-commerce giants JD.com and food delivery service Ele.me attended the city’s daily briefing, seeking to convince residents that bottlenecks would ease.

JD.com vice president Wang Wenbo said he understands concerns about delivery speed and that the company is focussing on basic foodstuffs and baby care items. Ele.me senior vice president Xiao Shuixian said his company had brought 2,800 more delivery workers in over the past week.

Citizens in several cities expressed anxiety in social media groups that their cities might also go into lockdown, with screenshots shared of maps showing various highways closed across the country.

On Saturday the transport ministry said it met with other government departments to work on standardising highway pandemic checkpoints as restrictions at the local level were causing congestion for critical supplies.

The Beijing municipality placed a high-risk area under lockdown on Saturday after eight COVID cases were confirmed in the last two weeks, Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control, told reporters.

On Saturday, the southern megacity of Guangzhou, home to more than 18 million people, said it would begin testing across its 11 districts after cases were reported on Friday.