Frustration grows, nerves fray in Shanghai’s lockdown purgatory

SHANGHAI, (REUTERS), 22 April 2022 - Stiffening resolve after three weeks of strict lockdown, authorities warned Shanghai’s 25 million frazzled residents on Friday that their purgatory would go on until the Covid-19 virus was eradicated neighbourhood by neighbourhood.   

 “I have no idea whether I will ever be allowed to go out again in my lifetime, I’m falling into depression,” one user commented on China’s Twitter-like Weibo beneath a report by state news agency Xinhua on the latest measures announced in Shanghai late on Thursday.   

 Another user asked: “How much longer is this going to last?” Offering a glimmer of light, the city government said on its official WeChat account that infections were showing a “positive trend” and that life could return to normal soon as long as people stuck to strict rules to curb the spread of the virus.   

 Yet some Shanghai districts tightened restrictions on movement, and even in neighbourhoods that met criteria for people to be allowed to leave their homes officials were ordering them to stay put, fraying nerves in households that have endured weeks of isolation.   

 “Our goal is to achieve community zero-Covid as soon as possible,” the government said, referring to a target to stamp out transmission outside quarantined areas.   
The Chinese financial hub reported 15,698 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases, down from 15,861 a day earlier.