Chilling videos shows locked-down Shanghai residents screaming

Chilling videos shows Shanghai residents screaming

Words: Megan Palin | Producer: Simone Kealy

Shanghai residents frustrated with the latest Covid lockdown measures have taken to screaming from the windows of their apartment blocks, as seen in several viral videos posted on social media.

China’s largest city has been under a draconian lockdown since April 5, when Beijing ordered a complete shutdown as part of its “zero Covid” policy.

The strategy has seen the city’s 25 million inhabitants locked down in phases, inciting complaints of food shortages and clashes with health workers.

As part of the mandatory regulations, residents have had to repeatedly take Covid tests and are prohibited from leaving their homes “for any reason” including to get food.

One Twitter user posted a clip online that he said was taken by the father of his close friend who reported that “people (are) screaming."

“It’s Shanghai, everyone is screaming, started with a couple now everyone is screaming, after a week of lockdown, something is going to happen, no one knows when this is going to end,” the man says in the clip, according to a translator.

The government has been dropping rations and people are using delivery services, though even those services are curtailed due to the restrictions.

China is sticking fast to a policy of snap lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions to staunch the spread of the virus.

The business hub recently reported a record 24,943 new infections – mostly asymptomatic – who account for over 90 per cent of the national total.

Locals have begun to chafe at lockdown restrictions with many taking to social media to vent anger at food shortages and heavy-handed controls – including the recent killing of a pet corgi by a health worker.

An unpopular policy of separating infected children from their virus-free parents – now softened – also triggered a rare show of public anger this week.

But officials are not budging on their zero-tolerance approach. City health official Wu Qianyu said during a Sunday press conference the city “would not relax in the slightest”.