The health authority in Shanghai seals off an Ikea store and uses force to try to prevent customers from getting outside. Because a contact person of a child infected with Corona is said to have stayed in the store. However, some manage to escape.
Chaotic scenes erupted in an Ikea store in Shanghai. Scores of customers fled the store after Chinese authorities attempted to quarantine the entire market, financial news agency Bloomberg reports. Videos on social networks show people screaming as they try to leave the branch before the authorities lock it down.
According to Twitter users, the trigger for the “rapid lockdown” was a close contact of a six-year-old infected boy who had visited the Ikea market. Some videos show people throwing themselves against the doors that the security authorities are holding from the outside. However, escaping a quarantine is difficult in China, as the authorities use the Chinese Corona warning app to digitally monitor every movement of their citizens. For example, you need a green QR code just to get to your own apartment or supermarket. According to Twitter users, more than 300 people are said to have stayed in the Ikea branch.
According to the report, the health authorities in the financial metropolis said they had imposed “temporary control measures” in the store. Everyone at Ikea would have to quarantine for two days and then have their health monitored for symptoms for five days, said Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the Shanghai Health Commission. Those customers who couldn't make it out of the store in time should be accommodated in quarantine hotels, Twitter users reported.
An Ikea representative told Bloomberg the store in the popular Xuhui district was closed due to Covid at the request of health officials. No further details were given. China is currently reporting more than 2,000 new infections every day - this is the highest number of infections in over three months.
