The deaths come as the city’s estimated 26 million people live under extremely severe restrictions for several weeks. People are barred from leaving their homes and relying on the government for food delivery, with small-scale protests erupting as some people can not get enough. Police in hazmat costumes were seen dispersing people protesting against the city’s harsh COVID rules last week. According to the measures, all those who test positive for COVID should be quarantined at headquarters where many people have complained about poor conditions. Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:47 Locked Shanghai residents shout from their windows Jane Polubotko, a Ukrainian expatriate in Shanghai, was sent to one of the centers three weeks ago after testing positive. Four thousand people lived in the huge exhibition space, with beds in cabins next to each other, basic toilets and no shower. More than 100 makeshift hospitals, with a capacity of 160,000 patients, are used as facilities, while apartment buildings have been converted into isolation centers. Read more: Shanghai tight lockdown could have ‘huge global impact’ on supply chains Shanghai, China’s economic hub, yesterday confirmed 19,831 new daily asymptomatic coronavirus infections, up from 21,592 on Saturday. The new symptomatic infections amounted to 2,417, from 3,238 on Sunday. More than 200 million nucleic acid tests have been conducted in Shanghai since March 10 in an effort to curb the largest outbreak in China since the Wuhan virus was first discovered in 2019. Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:40 Protesters clash with police in Shanghai Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that efforts to control and prevent the virus must not stop, while China will try to minimize the impact of politics on economic and social development. Domestic support for the zero-tolerance approach has waned in recent weeks due to food shortages and family separations. People in Xian, the capital of central China’s Shaanxi Province, have been urged to avoid unnecessary travel outside their homes, with employees encouraged to work from home or stay at work. While in Suzhou, which has reported more than 500 infections in its latest outbreak, workers were called to work from home.
