Shanghai, China's most populous city, faces its worst COVID-19 outbreak in years. With draconian measures, overwhelmed health systems, and shocking incidents, the metropolis is far from embracing 'living with the virus.'
Home to 24.9 million residents (2020 data), Shanghai has become China's primary COVID-19 hotspot following the recent resurgence of SARS-CoV-2. After two years of relative success with its zero-COVID strategy, the city locked down for nearly a month.
Authorities enforce strict isolation for all positives—even asymptomatics—often sending them to collective quarantine centers with inconsistent hygiene and comfort standards. Recently, even negative-tested individuals from high-case areas have faced mandatory solitary confinement, sometimes hundreds of kilometers from home. The result: widespread public exhaustion.
The lockdown's toll surfaced in two viral stories. As reported by The Guardian on May 3, 2022, an elderly man declared dead revived inside a body bag en route to the morgue—a video sparking global outrage.
The New York Post detailed on May 4 another case: a homeless migrant worker in her 50s sheltered in a phone booth with her dog for nearly a month amid the outbreak. She rarely emerged until police intervened, offering relocation she declined.
