China | No way out

China’s economy is beset by problems

The zero-covid policy is just one

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a volunteer in protective gears uses a loud speaker to advise people to keep social distancing at a COVID-19 testing site in Sanya in south China's Hainan Province on Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. The capital of China's Hainan province has locked down its residents for 13 hours as a COVID-19 outbreak grows on the tropical island during the summer school holidays. (Zhao Yingquan/Xinhua via AP)
|HONG KONG

When shanghai lifted its two-month lockdown in June, it hoped to see citizens flocking back to the shops in relief. Instead it has witnessed people fleeing a store in alarm. On August 13th health authorities discovered that a close contact of a child infected with covid-19 had visited an ikea outlet in the city. Under Shanghai’s strict virus-control regulations, the store had to be immediately locked down, so that everyone inside could be whisked off to quarantine. But panicked shoppers rushed for the exits, pushing past guards.

This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “No way out”

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From the August 20th 2022 edition

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