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Nothing going on in Shanghai:
The city of 26 million people is in lockdown
Photo: ALY SONG / REUTERS
Anyone who wants to find out more about the current situation in Shanghai on social media will come across spooky scenes: four-legged robotic dogs run through empty streets and announce the latest anti-corona measures via a belted loudspeaker, while drones hovering around monitor compliance with them .
A management consultant living in Shanghai also reported to manager magazin that he has been stuck in his apartment for three weeks and has now been tested for the eighth time during this phase.
"But I hope that my block of flats will be released again soon and that I can finally get out," said the consultant.
In areas where no positive cases occur within 14 days, the curfew should be lifted again.
A hope he shares with most of Shanghai's 26 million residents.
At the same time, however, criticism of the Chinese government is growing, which in its fight against the omicron variant always enforces particularly strict measures.
People who test positive have to go to central state facilities, the conditions of which are described as very bad in many cases.
The future supply of the population with food and medicine is also becoming increasingly uncertain.
But there is no end in sight to the measures, since March more than 280,000 new infections have been registered in the metropolis.
And the numbers are also increasing in many other Chinese cities.
The highest level of quarantine
Almost all of China's 100 largest cities have some form of anti-corona restrictions in place, according to research by research house Gavekal Dragonomics.
Around five percent have reached the highest level of quarantine, including large parts of Shanghai.
And the technology center in Shenzhen, which was only able to contain a corona outbreak with a quick lockdown in March, is currently experiencing a renewed increase in new infections.
Meanwhile, China's President
Xi Jinping
(68) speaks of "prevention and control work" and spreads perseverance slogans: "Perseverance brings victory" and "We put life above everything" are his slogans to the population.
But not only she expresses her displeasure.
Numerous foreign companies and their employees are now also publicly expressing their concerns.
At a recent discussion of the European Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, its Vice President Bettina Schön-Behanzin spread little confidence about the whereabouts of European companies.
She describes Shanghai as a "ghost town" where you no longer see people and where a climate of fear prevails.
Expats who have lived in Shanghai for a long time would try to leave the city and the country as soon as possible.
Lack of planning security
Production is mostly at a standstill in many plants, and in some cases it is only maintained because employees are willing to sleep in sleeping bags in the factories so that production can continue.
According to the European Chamber of Commerce, many companies are now asking themselves how to proceed if the strict zero-Covid policy is maintained.
The first European companies are therefore considering withdrawing or at least planning not to make future investments in China.
The situation is similar in the world's largest container port.
"The port in Shanghai is working - but only on paper," reports the local management consultant, "because thanks to the lack of permits, no trucks can come in or out."
But at least the advisor, who has been isolated in his apartment for three weeks, remains optimistic: "If there is something positive about this lockdown, it is the possibility that the government will reconsider its strict no-Covid strategy. Because everyone has seen how by now otherwise it will be difficult here."
