“I paid 400 yuan for two rotten pork chops,” says Will Liu, a Shanghai resident, in an irritated voice.
He says he bought the product over the internet when he was hungry during the second week of lockdown in the city due to the Covid19 pandemic.
As China sticks to its “Covid Zero” strategy, Shanghai has entered the fifth week of the lockdown to try to eradicate the disease from its entire territory, a financial and business hub home to 25 million people.
2 in 5 food delivery companies are under pressure because of the lockdown extension — Photo: Getty Images/BBC
Grocery delivery services are under pressure as the lockdown is extended — Photo: Getty Images/BBC
According to government guidelines, people must order food and water and wait for the government to deliver vegetables, meat and eggs. But the extension of the lockdown has weighed on delivery services, grocery websites and even government supply distribution.
The BBC has received a great deal of public and private news from Shanghai since the lockdown began about difficulties in getting food and medical supplies.
3 out of 5 health workers are testing all visitors to Shanghai Disneyland for Covid19 on October 31, 2021 after a single case was reported at the amusement park in China — Photo: AFP
Health workers are testing all visitors to Shanghai Disneyland for Covid19 on October 31, 2021 after a single case was registered at the amusement park in China.
Overloaded food delivery services
Will Liu, 28, is from Taiwan and has lived in Shanghai for almost seven years.
He told the BBC’s Chinese service that the pandemic hadn’t made much of a difference in his life until the end of March this year.
“Authorities then extended the original fiveday lockdown to make it progressively longer. Everyone’s life has been turned upside down.”
Will has stored enough groceries for five days the length of the originally announced lockdown. He only has a microwave to cook at home and eventually ran out of food when his sentence was extended.
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“In the second week of lockdown, I spotted this grocery delivery site advertising ‘pork chops for 400 yuan’. I was starving so I made an impulse buy. But all I got was two pieces of rotten meat my money back but I was very disappointed.”
Weibo and other social platforms have since the lockdown began partially at first on May 5.
“Our house has mountains of veggies and our fridge isn’t working properly, so our only option is to put those veggies outside. It threatens to rot. But we have to. If you don’t, you will starve to death.”, reads one of the posts.
“Today is the 12th day of Puxi’s detention [distrito]. In these 12 days I only [consegui] pick up a 10 kg sack of rice in Dingdong [serviço de entrega online]. Residents get very anxious when they don’t get food,” says another.
Community Food Groups
“After four or five days of confinement, residents in each community began buying food in groups and distributing it within the community. Everyone helps the other.”
In messages sent privately to the BBC’s Chinese service, local residents criticized the government’s response to the spread of the Omicron variant in the region. Some also expressed disapproval of the coverage in the Western press.
Will learned a few tricks that he said increased his success rate at ordering food online.
4 of 5 Will Liu says he uses a massager to quickly place orders on his phone screen — Photo: WILL LIU/BBC
Will Liu says he uses a massager to quickly place orders on his phone screen — Photo: WILL LIU/BBC
“I use a massage gun to touch the phone screen. This allows me to access the app a few hundred times a minute, which increases the likelihood that my meal order will be fulfilled.”
“My friends and I are getting help from friends outside of Shanghai to deal with the food shortage. We only eat one meal a day now.”
Shanghai recorded around 400,000 cases of Covid19 during the new outbreak. The daily death toll on Sunday April 24 was 39. Many were elderly and unvaccinated people with underlying health problems.
Some people questioned whether strict restrictions were necessary.
“Cancer Patients Suffer”
Zhang Le (name changed to protect his identity), a 50yearold university professor in Shanghai, told the BBC he believes patients with other medical needs are being ignored and the government is not following the science.
“I live five blocks from my parents, both of whom are in their 80s. I bought some frozen foods to start with [do confinamento]. You have a reference person. On April 1st, the caretaker fetched some vegetables from the market.”
“My parents say they’ve had four food deliveries so far.
5 of 5 A man in an antiCovid hazmat suit, on a remote street in Shanghai — Photo: Jacqueline Wong/Reuters
A man in a protective suit against Covid, on a remote street in Shanghai Photo: Jacqueline Wong/Reuters
Longterm medical treatment
Zhong says that while access to food is not an issue, he is concerned about longterm medical problems.
“My dad is in a lot of pain because he can’t go to the hospital to get a pain reliever specifically tailored for his condition. He has cancer.”
“My mother is already taking medication for high blood pressure. But she also can’t go to the hospital to get the prescription. So she had to reduce the dose so she wouldn’t run out.” (April 20) the subprefecture gave her the prescription, but it wasn’t the same drug”.
Concerns about mandatory testing
Zhong says he’s concerned his parents will line up with others for mandatory tests.
“Between April 1st and April 21st we were tested 15 times. I was very worried that my parents would get infected by waiting in long lines. Videos circulating online show employees swabbing multiple people without changing or disinfecting their gloves. Cross contamination people and test kits?” he asks.
“I asked my parents not to stand in line for the test, but they didn’t want to be arrested for it. Last week, the testing team agreed to make house calls and they’ve already been to my parents’ home once.”
It’s not just his parents who worry Zhong.
“My cousin had an operation for liver cancer four months ago and discovered another tumor. But he doesn’t have followup appointments because all medics work to keep people from getting infected. [covid]”.
“Access to food and quarantine don’t worry me, what I fear most is patients not getting treatment and medication.”
He believes the government is risking lives unnecessarily.
“I think it’s stupid that every resource has been used to contain this flulike virus. In other countries, governments follow scientists. In this country, the scientists follow the government. People with real medical problems suffer.”
Fang Cang makeshift hospitals
All residents must be tested regularly by official order.
If you test positive, you will be taken to Fang Cang, a makeshift hospital run by the government, with a mandatory quarantine of at least two weeks.
Many people used social media to vent their frustration and anger. Videos that appear to show people calling for food or asking for medicine are doing the rounds on the internet.
Like many comments posted online, Will Liu says his biggest fear is not being infected with Covid but being sent to Fang Cang.
“Bring your own medicine”
On Weibo, China’s Twitterlike social media platform, posts and photos about Fang Cang in Shanghai have been increasing since the lockdown began.
A recent post from a person claiming to be a medical professional working in Fang Cang was quite critical of the government.
“People have asked what kind of treatment Fang Cang offers. I was curious too at first. When I walked in I didn’t feel bad; I didn’t feel like I needed medication. The next day the nurse gave everyone a box of them [um medicamento tradicional chinês que se diz ser eficaz na infecção por covid]. I didn’t take any.’
“On the third day, a little girl in front of me caught a cold while taking a shower. She had a fever at night. I told her mother to take fever medicine, but the nurse said she didn’t have it. Thank you.” God I brought something, I gave something to the little girl.
“On the fourth day, we were given two bags of traditional Chinese medicine. I found that there was no information about ingredients and possible side effects. I just put them aside…
He has some simple advice for anyone going into quarantine.
“I suggest that if you have any symptoms when you are sent to Fang Cang, that you bring your own fever medicine just in case. We should not trust anyone but ourselves.”