Locked-Down Shanghai Residents Struggle to Buy Fresh Food
- City seals off some compounds as test blitz reveals more cases
- Grocery, food delivery apps can’t keep up with surging demand
An empty road in Shanghai, on March 23.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A growing Covid-19 outbreak in Shanghai has seen buildings and apartment blocks locked down for testing, leaving some frustrated residents struggling to secure fresh food for nearly a week.
The testing blitz comes as cases in the city of about 25 million surge to a record, part of a wider wave that’s testing China’s zero-tolerance approach to the virus just as the rest of the world is abolishing pandemic restrictions. People are being told to stay in their homes to wait to be tested, pushing up demand for deliveries but also leading to a shortage of delivery drivers.