Shoppers rush the doors in Shanghai Ikea after flash Covid lockdown ordered
15 August 2022, 16:08
Footage sees Chinese authorities physically try to lock down an Ikea in Shanghai with people still inside due to covid case
Panicked shoppers charged for the exits of a branch of Ikea in Shanghai after city health authorities ordered a flash Covid-19 lockdown.
Videos circulating on social media showed chaos ensuing at the furniture store as customers forced their way out.
Health officials were attempting to lock the shop in the Xuhui area of the city as one of the patrons had reportedly been in close contact with a person who tested positive for Covid.
Startling video showed customers surging towards the door as uniformed officials attempt to force them shut, then bursting through.
Other footage showed shoppers fleeing the scene having got out of the store, likely in an attempt to avoid being locked in quarantine.
The sudden shutdown was ordered because a close contact of a six-year-old boy, who tested positive after returning to the city following a trip to Tibet had visited the store, according to Shanghai Health Commission deputy director Zhao Dandan.
By Sunday nearly 400 contacts of the boy, who is asymptomatic, had been traced while 80,000 people had been ordered to undergo PCR testing.
The harsh measures are part of China’s “zero-Covid” strategy that has seen numerous flash lockdowns ordered in bizarre locations including restaurants, gyms and offices.
Ikea said the store, which was the first outlet opened by the Swedish firm in China in 1998, was closed due to Covid restrictions.
Shanghai underwent a citywide lockdown earlier this year which saw reports of food shortages and horrendous living conditions inside quarantine centres.
