Authorities in Shanghai are ramping up their zero-COVID efforts amid a recent flare-up in cases ahead of this month’s national congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Shanghai, the financial hub of China, reported 34 active COVID-19 cases as of Oct. 9, three of which have symptoms and the rest being asymptomatic, according to the Chinese regime’s national health commission on Oct. 10. The true number of cases is suspected to be much higher due to official underreporting and censorship.
According to a local information website, Shanghai has designated one area as high risk, with 33 others being medium risk, and 27 as low risk as of Oct. 10. The city of 26 million has locked down some of its universities and neighborhood communities since the beginning of the month, according to local reports.
Residents in high-risk areas are strictly banned from leaving their homes, residents in medium-risk areas are allowed to move about within their residential compound, and residents in low-risk areas are able to leave their compound on condition that they can produce negative PCR results from within the past 48 hours and continue to test negative almost every day.
Several universities in Shanghai have been locked down again, including the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Tongji University, Fudan University’s Fenglin campus and Handan campus, and Songjiang University Town on the outskirts of Shanghai.
Shanghai University of Finance and Economics reported one positive COVID case on Oct. 7, which led it that evening to force all students into a makeshift quarantine facility seemingly made from shipping containers near a stadium; the students complained about inadequate conditions in videos posted online.
In the online posts that The Epoch Times could access, students claimed that they were all isolated in the containers regardless of if they were close contacts, secondary contacts, or had no contact at all with the single positive case. Some students with green health codes also were forced to stay in the quarantine facility.
The Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times reached out to the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics for comment on Oct. 9 and had received no reply as of press time.
A Frustrated Resident
Ms. Xu (a pseudonym), who is a resident of Minhang District in Shanghai, uploaded video footage online on Oct. 9 showing a crying girl who says that she’s been locked down since March in different locations in the metropolis, including Shanghai Jiaotong University.“I have just come back home, and I have had no contact with him [the positive patient],” the distraught girl yelled.
“How can I possibly relax?” she responded when local pandemic control personnel told her to relax.
The Chinese regime uses big data to regulate people’s movement by controlling the color of health codes on mobile phone apps that they are forced to download. Residents have to scan their health codes when they venture outside their homes, including public transport, shopping facilities, and entertainment venues.
Shao Jun, director of Shanghai’s big data center, said at a press conference on Oct. 10 that all travelers to Shanghai must take three PCR tests in the three days after their arrival in the city, or their health code will turn yellow.
People with a green health code are able to move around relatively freely, while those with a yellow health code can walk around within their own residential compound; people with a red code are locked inside their residence and forbidden to go out.
Xu told The Epoch Times on Oct. 9 that she was very sympathetic to the girl.
“Everyone is very disgusted now. We have to do nucleic acid every three days, and the throat hurts,” she said. “I feel that the virus will not kill us, but these behaviors [zero-COVID measures] will. But if we don’t take the PCR tests, we will not be able to go out—we can’t use public transport.”
Xu says she doubts the official number of positive cases.
“Who knows whether [the official data] is true or not? Positive cases just keep popping up here and there.”
She denounced the local authorities for tightening restrictions again and censoring online posts.
“There will be no peace before the [CCP’s] 20th national congress. We can’t talk online. If we do, the police will come to us immediately. We are all living in prisons.”
Stockpiling Food, Again
Shanghai resident Mr. Wang (a pseudonym) told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on Oct. 9 that he'd started to stockpile food for the lockdown.“The [COVID] virus isn’t frightening, but the policies are,” he said. “The authorities can casually turn your health code red. If they say you are an asymptomatic case, then you are asymptomatic; there’s no way for you to prove that you’re not. We, commoners, are like a lamb to the slaughter.”
Wang said the only thing he can do is store food for his family.
“I have stockpiled some rice and noodles. I don’t know exactly what is happening, but I know the trouble is back again.”
