Shanghai, the most populous city in China, has been under lockdown for the past month. As the rest of the world opens its doors and concedes to living with the virus, China is still relentlessly pursuing its “zero-Covid” strategy for stamping out the disease. 

This has meant that 26 million people have been locked indoors under the strictest conditions, not allowed to go out for groceries, fresh air, or work, for weeks on end. Residents have complained of running out of food. Government deliveries are scant, and delivery apps are booked up with millions of people all trying to get groceries brought to them. 

Social media apps like WeChat and Weibo have fizzed with dissent, and have been quickly wiped by online censors. 

In recent days, workers in hazmat suits swarmed the city erecting green metal barriers outside buildings and across streets, sealing people inside their homes and neighborhoods.