The food crisis and discontent over the COVID outbreak in Shanghai put other Chinese cities on alert

Millions of people in different parts of China fear that measures similar to those in Shanghai will be taken, where confinement due to the COVID outbreak has caused serious failures in the distribution of food and other essential goods for the population.

Images of what is happening in one of the country's major cities created a state of panic among citizens, although officials seek to assure the public that they are well prepared.

In the southern port city of Guangzhou, where all 18 million residents underwent mandatory testing after a handful of infections were detected last week, authorities emphasized that food and other supplies were well taken care of, despite a local newspaper reporting shortages in supermarkets due to “panic buying,” CNN commented.

State media point out that Shanghai is facing a very serious situation given that the omicron variant of the coronavirus has unleashed a large number of infections detected in a short period of time, scattered in more than 200 blocks of the city, which has resulted in widespread transmission. They reproduce the report of the team of specialists led by epidemiologist Wu Zunyou, who nevertheless hopes that the outbreak will be controlled within the next two weeks.

This new crisis has unleashed some scenes of chaos in the city, as some residents explained to the “South China Morning Post”. In some neighborhoods, they say, a “barter economy” has returned to a “barter economy” after two weeks of confinement and the lack of stocks of basic necessities promised by the authorities.

Deputy Mayor Chen Tong on Thursday admitted that the daily lives of some residents had been affected by delays in deliveries and said officials would fight “on the front lines” to provide adequate food and meet the needs of the population.

THE REACTION OF OTHER CITIES

Meanwhile, Chinese social media circulated online posts and articles on how to prepare for outbreaks, including tips on how to store vegetables to last and what to prepare for quarantine. Other articles talked about how cities made sure there were enough supplies to cover periods of closure.

The outbreak in Shanghai and another in the northeastern province of Jilin have caused the highly transmissible Omicron BA.2 variant to spread to levels never before seen in China. But while the vast majority of cases in recent outbreaks have occurred in Jilin and Shanghai, infections have been found in some 29 provinces and municipalities, CNN explained.

The events that took place in Shanghai and various cities in the country, put the Party and its commitment to “covid zero” in order to eradicate the virus.

“Even with mass testing, we can assume that the virus has moved beyond Shanghai before the city was closed,” said health security expert Nicholas Thomas, an associate professor at the City University of Hong Kong.

“While it is possible that the specific focus will be returned to smaller cities, Shanghai's legacy will see a return to mass closures for larger cities in the short to medium term,” he explained in the media note.

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