China's Lockdown: Dystopia, Starvation, & Suicide

China locks down 26 million residents.

Shanghai, the Chinese city of about 26 million, has been under a strict lockdown for three weeks. The CCP is following its zero-COVID policy.

Food shortages: Nearly all of Shanghai’s residents have been confined to home since last week. There are now reported mass food shortages—residents and even medical volunteers struggle to get food. Videos show residents saying they are starving to death. China’s version of Twitter, Weibo, has been censoring claims of food shortages.

Separating families: China has separated babies and young children from their parents if they test positive. Angered parents went to social media to condemn the government’s actions, which led to an unusual change in policy by the CCP. Videos showed dozens of toddlers and infants crammed on metal beds at a medical facility.

Denying care: China has denied treatments for life-threatening illnesses that aren’t coronavirus. There have been countless cases of avoidable deaths, such as a 77-year-old man with kidney disease who died after the hospital refused to perform dialysis. A four-year-old girl died because she was denied treatment due to not having a COVID-19 test.

Locked in apartments: If a building has a case, all the residents are locked in it for 14 days. Those who test positive are detained in a central quarantine. Many have been threatening violence and self-harm, as well as committing suicide, because of the lockdowns. A cancer patient who was not allowed to go out to get his medicine jumped off of the roof of his building.

Protesting: Shanghai residents have been going to social media and balconies to protest the lockdowns. Videos have shown residents singing “why are you starving us?” from their balconies.

Drones: China has been using drones to monitor residents during the lockdowns. Drones flying above Shanghai apartments tell residents to “control the soul’s desire for freedom” and comply with the lockdown.

Despite the lockdowns, Shanghai reported 26,087 new coronavirus cases today, the most significant one-day increase on record.