Isolated elderly live in these conditions in Shanghai 0:58
Hong Kong (CNN) --
The glittering skylines of Hong Kong and Shanghai have long been associated with wealth and glamour.
But in recent weeks, they have become synonymous with a much bleaker reality, as authorities in the two international financial centers struggle to contain raging outbreaks of the omicron variant of coronavirus.
Extreme measures over Covid-19 have greatly restricted the lives of residents in both cities, with Shanghai now entering its third week of government-ordered home closures, and Hong Kong chafing at a third year of lockdown and lockdown. travel restrictions.
The cities that were once China's gateways to the West have had heavy-handed border closures and air routes suspended, so the two cities have been closed off to much of the world, even as large ones open up.
On Tuesday, only one flight arrived in Hong Kong from outside Asia Pacific, a stark contrast to the pre-pandemic era, when the city's airport was one of the busiest in the world, regularly handling 1,100 daily passenger flights and cargo to and from 200 international destinations.
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Now most of the traffic is outbound, transporting residents fleeing Hong Kong in search of a more promising or at least less restricted future.
In February and March, more than 180,000 people left the city while only about 39,000 entered, according to immigration data.
Shanghai Protest for Sending Vulnerable Elderly to Makeshift Covid-19 Quarantine Camps
Travelers heading to quarantine at Hong Kong International Airport on April 1. (Credit: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg)
Closures in Shanghai and Hong Kong drive expats out
Shanghai, like Hong Kong, is home to a large number of foreign residents, but fears are growing that that, too, may soon change.
Jörg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, estimates that China has lost around 50% of all European expats since the pandemic began, and warns there could be another exodus of families this summer when the pandemic ends. school year.
"I wouldn't be surprised if the other half [of those who remain] leave," he told CNN last week.
A recent report from the British Chamber of Commerce in China seemed to back up this assessment, noting that international schools in China could see at least 40% of teachers leave before the next school year, potentially prompting more families to move.
Driving these departures is China's adherence to an uncompromising zero-Covid policy, which relies on a combination of strict border quarantines, home closures and mass testing in an attempt to stamp out infections.
But those measures no longer seem sufficient in the face of the latest wave of omicron.
Hong Kong posted the highest per capita death rate in Asia and Oceania last month as cases surged and the virus swept through nursing homes.
Shanghai was plunged into crisis soon after, with all 25 million residents placed under mandatory housing lockdown at the end of March.
Many in Shanghai have complained of being unable to access food, basic supplies and even medical care during emergencies.
Reports of health workers forcing elderly residents into quarantine and of workers killing a corgi dog after its owner tested positive fueled rare public anger at the government on Chinese social media.
Hunger and anger dominate the endless nightmare of the confinement in Shanghai, China
Health worker in China would have beaten a dog to death 1:00
"Shanghai is really cornering us. They don't treat us like humans at all," wrote one user on Weibo, China's highly censored Twitter-like platform.
"I really can't understand. How could it be so bad? What is happening to Shanghai?" reads another popular Weibo comment.
Before this wave, Shanghai officials prided themselves on their less disruptive approach to containing outbreaks and had avoided the kind of massive city-wide testing seen in other major Chinese cities.
The worst outbreak of covid-19 in China slows down the economy of the Asian giant 1:11
Hong Kong's zero-covid strategy
Hong Kong had also once been lauded as a Covid-free success story.
Although it had previously faced several outbreaks, its mortality rate remained low until a fifth wave arrived in February.
The risk of infection seemed so low that many residents, particularly the elderly, did not consider vaccination a priority, leaving much of the city vulnerable when the omicron variant struck.
Now, as a growing number of residents seek to leave, that sense of relative safety, and both cities' standing as international travel and trade capitals, seems further away than ever.
"We haven't made any money as a business for over a month," said Josh Vaughn, an American businessman in Shanghai who owns an online sunglasses brand.
"It stresses me out thinking about it because I don't know when this lockdown will end... I'm so scared this could be the end of my business."
Vaughn said that after contracting Covid this month he faced hostility from his neighbors, who were reluctant to let him return to their apartment building after he was released from the hospital, echoing similar experiences of other expats who have felt excluded.
Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce, warned that the economic impact of China's Covid restrictions could push some foreign companies to consider moving their regional headquarters outside of greater China, calling into question the future of major trade centers like Shanghai and Hong Kong while the rest of the world opens up.
Singapore, which for years has vied with Hong Kong for the title of Asia's leading international business hub, was the first Asian country to declare it was moving away from a zero-Covid policy to living with the virus last year.
Some in Hong Kong's business sector are now looking to the Southeast Asian city-state, which in April lifted all quarantine requirements for vaccinated travelers.
Chinese authorities have recognized this precarious position, with Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam saying in late March: "I have a very strong feeling that people's tolerance is slipping... that some of our financial institutions They are losing patience with this kind of isolated state of Hong Kong, since Hong Kong is an international financial center."
In an effort to boost Hong Kong's ailing economy, Lam lifted some travel bans and eased quarantine requirements last month.
But it may be too little, too late, especially as Chinese officials and state media ramp up the rhetoric praising China's zero-Covid policy, offering little hope that these international financial centers will open anytime soon.
Gabriele, an Italian resident in Shanghai who asked to be identified only by his first name, tested positive in early April and has since been confined to his apartment for more than three weeks, he said.
Describing the situation as a "nightmare", Gabriele said health workers said they would come to test him again, but "they never showed up", and attempts to contact local authorities have gone nowhere.
"We feel powerless," she said.
Now, he's thinking about moving home for good, leaving behind a city he once loved.
"The city completely lost its shine. I don't know if it will recover," he said.
"It's like a completely different city...it really feels like we're going back in time instead of looking into the future."
-- Additional reporting by CNN's Akanksha Sharma and Michelle Toh.
Covid-19Hong KongShanghai