Angry Shanghai residents chant slogans after being put in lockdown again: ‘Serve the people!’

Less than a week after Shanghai lifted its two-month long Covid lockdown, concerns have grown about another impending outbreak as the city recorded new cases.

The Shanghai health commission said on Tuesday morning that three locally-transmitted cases and seven local asymptomatic infections have been reported. On Monday, three imported cases and six imported asymptomatic infections were recorded.

All the new cases have been transferred to a designated hospital for observation, while their close contacts have been placed under quarantine, Shanghai Daily reported.

Last Wednesday, Shanghai came out of a two-month long gurelling lockdown that was imposed in the wake of an outbreak of the Omicron variant.

China has followed a painfully strict “zero-Covid” policy through the course of the pandemic, with severe restrictions and mass testing. The restrictions have also caused mental distress to the residents of the country.

On Monday, fears grew around another lockdown after residents in Xuhui district reported that they were not being allowed out of their homes.

Dozens of people in one fenced-off housing compound in the city’s downtown area were found shouting angrily at hazmat-clad officials, reported AFP.

People in the crowds chanted “serve the people!” at officials standing on the other side.

“I’m very indignant,” said a resident who goes by the surname Li. He alleged that the community was suddenly put into lockdown again on Saturday.

“It’s been two months and we can’t cope anymore. We’re all negative [on Covid-19 tests], why lock us in a cage?”

Several other neighbourhoods in the city were also placed under lockdown on Saturday, reported CNN.

At a press conference on Friday, Shanghai’s health commissioner Wu Jinglei said authorities had stepped up tracking and tracing to cut transmission in the new cases.

“Facing a complicated situation, we will double down on efforts to reduce the number of new infections and prevent a resurgence of the outbreak from taking place,” he said, according to the South China Morning Post.

Seven residential compounds in five administrative regions have been sealed again since lockdowns officially ended on 1 June.

In addition, a total of 15,000 mobile testing booths across all 16 districts in Shanghai have been set up to ensure frequent testing of residents.