Скачать или смотреть What Lockdown Looks Like in China's Biggest City 🇨🇳

On April 1st 2022, the west side of Shanghai joined the east side and went into a lockdown. We thought this might be a bad April Fool's joke, but instead the entire city became a ghost town overnight. The good news for us, at least, was that the lockdown would only last 4 days and we would be free to leave our apartments from the 5th April if there were no cases within our community compunds.

Before we knew it, the 5th April had been and gone. We were stuck in a lockdown 'indefinitely' according to the Shanghai government. This meant that Shanghai would pursue the goal of reaching 0 cases of COVID-19 in the city. They also said that they were taking a 'dynamic approach' (whatever the hell that means...) to tackle the rising infections across the city.

During lockdown, the cases seemed to somehow continue rising until it peaked at around 26,000 new cases a day by mid-April. We have been testing regularly and so far we've been lucky enough to stay negative. With that being said however, I can't wrap my head around why the city persists with testing people together in groups and gathering everyone in the same space to receive their swab up the nose or in the mouth. To me, that seems like it will only increase transmission, but I'm not the scientist here!

In the first week or so of lockdown, there were issues with food distrubution and supply chains within the city, which left many people rationing what they had left. The situation has now stabilised but the tensions are now rising from people becoming impatient and who can blame them? We have been locked in for 4 weeks now and there is still no end in sight for the vast majority of us.

In this video, you can see me taking to the streets of the city and exploring what this new dystopian world looks like. It was great to be outside for the first time in weeks, but it was also extremely sad to see the city that I know and love so much being the in the state it currently is.

Since recording the video, I’ve had one of my friends have a false positive test. Even after numerous negative tests the police still threatened to remove her from her home by force. This is disgusting and I hope the authorities can deal with these situations with common sense and respect instead.

If you have any questions or want to reach out to me, write a comment on the video and I'll be sure to reply :)