April 7 – Shanghai residents in China are on lockdown. Nearly 20,000 cases, the city’s largest Covid outbreak, were reported today. The Omicron surge initiated a partial lockdown a month ago, and only certain areas were quarantined. However, on Monday the officials extended the lockdown to the entire city consisting of 25 million people.

Some residents are complaining about running out of food, because they are not allowed to leave their homes to purchase food. People are using online sites and apps to order groceries and depend on government deliveries of essential goods, but the large population lockdown has overwhelmed the city’s delivery services and government supply deliveries are stressed. Price gouging and shortages are also becoming major problems. 

City officials are aware of the issues and say they are addressing them. The city’s vice mayor said they are trying to open up more markets and provide more delivery services. 

Vice Mayor Chen Tong said officials are working long hours trying to find solutions to the problems. 

Residents are also angry about children being separated from their parents if they test positive. In response, Shanghai officials allowed infected parents to join their children in isolation centers. However, Reuters is reporting that infected children are still being separated from their non-infected parents. 
Shanghai is doing mandatory testing to isolate all cases, and residents who test positive are required to go to mandatory quarantine facilities, which are overcrowded and poor conditions have been reported. 

China is one of the last remaining nations trying to eliminate Covid among its population. Most countries are cutting back on regulations and restrictions and trying to “live with” the virus. Shanghai has the largest population and virus outbreak, compared to previous outbreaks in China that resulted in lockdowns in cities such as Xi’an and Wuhan.