Following President Xi’s promise last week that the CCP would double down on its stringent lockdown policies, while also pledging to stamp out any dissent by locals who have grown frustrated with the government’s insistence on enforcing its lockdown policies no matter how many people die of non-COVID illnesses, or how many suffer from shortages of food, medicine and other necessities in an economy where even disposable diapers are considered a frivolous luxury.
Now, just as Shanghai was hoping that lockdown measures would be eased as the number of new cases has fallen sharply, authorities have decided to instead tighten those measures.
According to the AP, notices issued in several districts said residents were ordered to stay home and have been barred from receiving nonessential deliveries as part of a “quiet period” lasting at least until Wednesday. The tightened measures could be extended depending on the results of mass testing, the notices said.
“Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Together we can lift the lockdown at an early date,” said one notice issued in the city’s Huangpu district that was later shared online.
Shanghai on Monday reported 3,947 cases over the prior 24 hours, almost all of them asymptomatic, along with 11 deaths. Authorities have been gradually lifted isolation rules on the city’s 25 million residents, but the new orders appear to be returning to conditions at the early stage of the outbreak.
Two Shanghai residents reached through social media by CNN said they’d had no prior notice of the new restrictions, which could last as long as a week, according to them.
One viral video that has spread widely on Twitter shows Chinese COVID police coming to arrest an individual who claims they were mistakenly targeted for quarantine after somebody else on their floor tested positive.
Read More: Shanghai Tightens COVID Lockdown Despite Decline In Cases