Zero covid policy and strict lockdowns have broken down supply chains and led to food shortages in Shanghai city.
Shanghai has been under lockdown due to rising covid cases. Amid this lockdown, food and medicine shortage is making citizens angry. Shanghai is the financial center of China and is a city with a population of 26 million people. Under the ‘zero covid ‘policy China had declared a lockdown in Shanghai for the past two weeks, yet the city reported a high number of covid cases, touching a record number of 25,000 on Sunday. The health authorities have responded that most cases were mild. This made many citizens question why they are still under lockdown. Citizens rely upon handouts for food and medicine since the pandemic broke many supply chains.
Chinese social media is filled with complaints from residents about the lack of food and medicines. Some videos on social media platforms also show citizens protesting by breaking the lockdown rules and demanding proper food supplies. Caixin reported, “Some people stuck at home have benefited from government largess, posting pictures of impressive-looking hampers on social media. But for many residents, the only source of fresh food is now discount group-buying clubs, a pre-outbreak fixture where local community leaders contact suppliers, take orders and organize transport.” The inequality in the treatment has also led to public outcry and comments on social media.
Effects Of “Zero Covid”
The harsh measures taken under the ” zero covid ” policy have resulted in supply chain and logistics breakdown. This in turn led to food shortages. This policy made many delivery agents and employees of warehouses go under quarantine. However, some of them have complained about how the quarantine center they were sent to was either under construction or had low hygiene standards. The city had also separated parents from covid positive children. This prompted widespread outrage and later authorities allowed parents and sick children to be together.
Chinese President, Xi Jinping however has ordered to continue with the ‘zero covid’ strategy and take measures to curb the increasing cases. The zero covid strategies follow mass testing and isolations for patients and their contacts. China is the only country still following this. Most people in China are vaccinated with three doses of the Chinese vaccine. This has helped to curb the severity of covid positive cases and avoid hospitalizations. Elderly population lags in taking vaccination, causing fears that China could soon see a wave of covid related death among the elderly.
With the communist party’s congress due to happen in November and Xi Jinping preparing for a third term, the government is likely to continue with stringent measures.
Censoring Media
Chinese social media platforms seem to be censoring content related to food shortages in Shanghai. Hashtags like” buying groceries in Shanghai” have been blocked and are no longer available. Earlier trending posts included how people are waking up early morning to get groceries and feed their families.
The posts also talked about how ordering groceries has become extremely difficult. Even though some of the hashtags were removed, some similar hashtags have appeared on the web platform, China’s Twitter social media. Authorities have also been cracking down on what they claim to be misleading information. They denied the claims that there were restrictions regarding buying groceries.
Published: Gargi Sharma
Edited: Aradhana singh
