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Police officers in protective suits knocking on the front door - a familiar sight for people in China.
The corona situation is coming to a head in Shanghai, due to the increasing number of new infections, a lockdown has been in force since Monday, affecting 26 million people.
Only one day after the start, the authorities are tightening the lockdown significantly: First, the residents of the east of the city are affected, from Friday the residents of the western districts are not allowed to leave their homes.
Not even to take out the trash or walk their pets.
The measures should apply until April 5th.
In the run-up, there was panic buying in the wholesale markets, and food was scarce.
Li Guofeng, Shanghai Resident
“They said on TV that we will be detained from April 1st, so today I went out to buy some food.
When I arrived there was nothing there.
Please tell me what should I do for the next few days?”
The Chinese government's strict zero-Covid strategy is being shaken by the Omicron variant.
So far, larger outbreaks have been prevented, now 3450 corona cases were reported in the port metropolis on Sunday alone, which corresponds to 70 percent of the new infections in the entire country.
Zhou Xiaozhao, Shanghai Resident
“I feel the lockdown came a little too slowly.
It would have been better if we had acted earlier.
This lockdown came too slowly.
I think it's good that she's here now."
The tough decision surprised many people, and on Saturday the authorities ruled out a lockdown for the metropolis because of the far-reaching effects on the economy - Shanghai has the largest container port in the world.
Experts also fear delivery bottlenecks in Germany due to the lockdown.
Almost 70 percent of the German companies operating in China are based in the metropolitan region of Shanghai.