Shanghai, April 25 (BNA): Millions of locked-down Shanghai residents entered their fourth week of a nerve-wracking COVID-19 lockdown, as authorities on Monday said they are looking to switch to targeted enforcement of the rules in smaller areas around. Confirmed cases.
In Beijing, fearing a similar strict lockdown after a few cases emerged, many have begun stockpiling food, with long queues appearing in the largest Chaoyang District in the first of three mandatory tests scheduled there this week.
While the virus has so far appeared well contained in Beijing, authorities in Shanghai have been trying to control the growing frustration caused by the lockdown that has forced most of the city’s 25 million residents indoors, Reuters reported.
At a daily press briefing on Monday, Chi Qiping, vice president of Yangpu Business District in northeastern Shanghai, said authorities are looking at dividing large areas into smaller areas for more targeted enforcement of the rules.
“Every complex, every gate, and every door must be strictly managed,” Chi said, adding, however, that the new approach would “better achieve different prevention.”
Chi singled out the area of Tongji New Village in her area, saying that although all of its 6,000 residents were under total lockdown, only a few apartment buildings had reported positive cases and the restrictions could focus on those cases.
It was not clear whether targeted zoning would be introduced across Shanghai, but some residents had hoped to expand such plans if they were shown to be operating in Yangpu.
A woman in Shanghai’s Changning District, who asked not to be named, said the news from Yangpu gave her something to relate to, but she wasn’t even sure if she would believe it.
“Although I am still closed now, I am crying with joy,” she said via WeChat.
Restrictions in the Chinese commercial capital currently prevent some people from leaving the house, others are prevented from leaving their apartment complex, and some are allowed to go outside. Most are in the first two categories, and those who venture outside are often told by the police to go home.
Over the weekend, Shanghai authorities closed off entrances to public blocks and sealed off entire streets with two-meter-long green wire mesh fences, with videos circulating online showing residents protesting from their balconies.
FKN