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‘No end in sight’: Shanghai residents chafe at harsh Covid measures

Videos shared on China’s social media platforms showed suspected Covid-positive patients forcibly quarantined in central facilities. In some neighbourhoods a single positive case could lead to residents in the entire apartment building be sent for quarantine.

Xi Jinping attacks ‘doubters’ as he doubles down on China’s zero-Covid policy

Censors have been taking down many of these videos, but determined residents have continued to post them. Past speeches by top officials and legal scholars have resurfaced in which they speak of the importance of the rule of law. These speeches have been shared and reposted on social media to express disapproval of government policy.

Last week, Xi reiterated that his government had no intention of turning away from the controversial zero-Covid commitment, in a major speech to the country’s senior cadres. He urged officials to “unswervingly adhere to the general policy of dynamic zero-Covid” and warned against any criticism or doubting of the policy.

In the past few days, a number of videos shared on social media showed that health officials – also called Dàbái, or “Big Whites” due to their white hazmat suits – entered residents’ homes and sprayed disinfectants everywhere. This practice outraged many residents, who questioned the legality. Others asked whether such a measure had any scientific basis.

Legal disaster’
Worried about Covid-prevention excesses, legal scholars have voiced their concerns. On Sunday, a long appeal letter urging the government to abide by China’s constitution was widely shared on social media. Censors took down the article multiple times but many determined residents continued to post it.

“Pandemic prevention needs to be balanced with ensuring people’s rights and freedoms,” Tong wrote. “Local governments and officials need to stick to the constitution and laws, and cannot destroy the rule of law for convenience.”

Guobin Yang, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of the book The Wuhan Lockdown, said: “Like what we’ve seen in Wuhan in 2020 when the virus first emerged, citizens are protesting against the government’s blunt enforcement of lockdowns. Shanghai has taken this dynamic to a new level, but we still don’t know how the government will respond in the end.”