Beijing suspends weddings, funerals to avoid Shanghai-like lockdown

To avoid the infamous Shanghai-like lockdown, China's capital Beijing has shut schools and suspended weddings and funerals, reported a South Korean media outlet on Friday.

According to the city's Education Bureau, all schools have been ordered to finish classes from Friday, with no resumption date announced. The testing mandates in China have affected 20-million residents. The Chinese people are stockpiling and there is a surge in panic buying at local supermarkets, reported Airrang, a South Korean media outlet.

The ongoing severe lockdown restrictions in China's Shanghai to contain the spread of COVID-19 has drastically affected the day-to-day lives of the people due to food shortage.

Furious residents of Shanghai have posted videos of people yelling from the balconies of apartments out of frustration caused by harsh measures imposed by the authorities. But the government has been denying reports of revolt and officials have been contesting saying all is well and managed well.

The breakdown in supply chains, especially of food has exaggerated the problems of the people. People have started posting their frustrations on the country's social networking site Weibo saying that the food parcels which include ducks given to residents in Pudong district's Zhoupu township were found to be rotten as they had turned green in colour. Shanghai authorities dismissed the allegations as "rumours".

According to reports, Shanghai residents have also been falling sick after consuming some of the food supplies because of the distribution of stale food by the authorities amid the city's COVID-19 lockdown.

Some neighborhood committees have instructed residents to throw out questionable (rotten) food items while officials have said they would investigate the matter.

The issue of low-quality food rations had added to woes of residents who have been struggling to get quality food, medical help, earn money and lead a respectable life but authorities in Shanghai have begun taking more harsh measures like sending drones to warn people to behave properly.

The city's poor handling of the country's worst Covid-19 outbreak in two years has raised public distrust in the authorities and anger at the government.

It is time for the authorities to ensure that quality food supply and medical help are provided to residents living indoors under difficult conditions.

( With inputs from ANI )

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