Authorities in Shanghai have erected high fences in front of the homes of residents who tested positive for COVID-19 this week, sparking discontent on social media that people have been treated as animals amid heavy blockages in the city.
Images and videos of workers in protective suits surrounding buildings with 6-foot-tall green metal bars circulated China’s social media site Weibo, where users also complained that the structures posed a fire safety hazard.
“It’s so disrespectful to the rights of the people inside, using metal barriers to fence them off like pets,” the man said.
Many of the city’s 25 million people are closed as China doubles its zero-COVID policy. Nearly 40 people died from the virus in Shanghai on Saturday, the highest number in the city since it was blocked amid the proliferation of the highly transmitted Omicron variant.
“Isn’t that a fire hazard?” Another Weibo user asked, mentioning the imposing green fences.
Green fences seal the entrances to shops and housing units along the street. Jacqueline Wong / REUTERS Images and videos of workers in protective suits surrounding buildings circled Weibo.Aly Song / REUTERS Workers wear protective suits as they walk along the fence of a barricaded community.Kevin Freyer / Getty Images
Some videos show residents shouting at workers erecting the fence, and in one case they managed to block construction.
Reuters said it saw fences on the streets of Shanghai on Sunday and said barriers were being set up in the city’s “sealed areas” – a sign of buildings where one or more people had tested positive and where neighbors were barred from leaving. your front door. Positive tests are sent to quarantine centers.
The fences are coming in as residents appear to be increasingly angry with the government over its harsh quarantine rules and have dared to express their displeasure despite censorship.
A man talks to his daughter through a fence in a residential complex that is currently under quarantine for Covid-19.Alex Plavevski / EPA A man stands behind the fence in a quarantine complex.Alex Plavevski / EPA Barriers are placed where there is one or more people positive test. Alex Plavevski / EPA
A 6-minute video called “The Voice of April” – which shows a panorama of an empty city street and includes voices of locals complaining about food and drug shortages – was shared by many nonsense before being censored.
With postal wires
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