Shoppers flee Ikea store lockdown in Shanghai

SHANGHAI • Scenes of mayhem unfolded at an Ikea in Shanghai as the health authorities tried to lock down the store last Saturday and quarantine those on site after learning that someone who had been in contact with a Covid-19 patient had visited the place.

News of the flash shutdown sent shoppers fleeing and screaming in an effort to get out of the building before the doors were locked, videos on social media showed.

Shanghai's 25 million residents are well versed in lockdowns, after being barred from leaving their homes for two months this spring in an effort to eradicate the virus.

The health authorities in the financial hub said they imposed "temporary control measures" at the store, after they found out that a close contact of a six-year-old boy with an asymptomatic Covid-19 infection had been there.

They did not say when the close contact was in the store. Everyone at the Ikea store and other affected areas will need to quarantine for two days and then do five days of health surveillance, said Mr Zhao Dandan, deputy director of Shanghai's health commission, in a briefing on Sunday.

The snap lockdowns deployed as part of China's Covid-zero strategy - where people in a building or urban district are banned from leaving, with little notice - have led to numerous instances of panic around the country.

In recent months, residents in the technology hub Shenzhen; the capital of Sichuan province, Chengdu; and the vacation island of Hainan have scaled fences, sprinted down the beach and poured out of office towers after learning that lockdowns were to be imposed.

There were 2,312 new infections reported nationwide yesterday, the first time in more than three months that cases have topped 2,000 for three consecutive days.

The widening outbreak is showing that nowhere is safe, including resort areas where residents hoped to relax or regions that recently emerged from the worst flare-ups.

In a video circulated on social media, an announcement can be heard in the Ikea store saying that officials had asked the shopping centre to immediately close and to stop people from entering or leaving.

When security guards and health workers in personal protective equipment tried to close a door to prevent people from exiting, dozens screamed and pushed against it until they broke free, the video showed.

In response to the epidemic prevention guidelines, Ikea Shanghai Xuhui was temporarily closed on Sunday and yesterday, the company said in a statement. Those who did not manage to get out were sealed inside the store from 8pm until just after midnight, when they were transferred to quarantine hotels, according to one visitor who posted about her experience on Douyin, the Chinese version of Tiktok.

Meanwhile, thousands of tourists stranded for days due to Covid-19 lockdowns in Hainan had a glimmer of hope on Sunday as the authorities indicated that they could soon return home, but only after local approvals.

The provincial authorities announced that commercial flights for domestic passengers out of Sanya, a popular tourist spot on Hainan's southern tip, were to begin their orderly resumption yesterday, according to a statement on the city's WeChat account.

Travellers could fly out if there were no new cases in their tour groups and hotels within the last seven days.

At a press conference on Sunday, the authorities said those leaving Hainan will be quarantined at home for three days and then will need to monitor their health for the next four days.

BLOOMBERG