The number of new infections in Shanghai has been falling for about two weeks.

But instead of relaxing their corona policy, the local authorities have drastically tightened their measures again.

One of the new regulations bears the euphemistic name "mute management".

This means that residents who have been locked in their apartments for six weeks are no longer allowed to order groceries from delivery services.

The idea persists that the virus spreads via delivery service drivers.

Friederike Böge

Political correspondent for China, North Korea and Mongolia.

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"Now they're going completely crazy," says a resident on the phone.

She was informed by her neighborhood committee on Tuesday that she will not receive any new deliveries from this Wednesday until at least Sunday.

In other neighborhoods, this rule was enforced over the weekend.

There is no official statement from the city of Shanghai, only reports from neighborhood committees.

"Depending on the result of the PCR tests from May 10th, the edition could be extended," says one.



Many Shanghainese had hoped for opening steps in view of the falling numbers.

Your patience will now be put to the test again.

Videos are circulating on the Internet about minor violent clashes between residents and police officers and disease control staff.

Reports that in some residential areas not only people who have tested positive are being forced into quarantine centers, but also their neighbors on the same floor or even in the entire building, are also causing outrage.

Party leadership threatens critics of Corona policy

On Tuesday, for example, a recording of a telephone conversation in which an employee of the disease control agency explained to two American women circulated on the Internet: “The building is very dangerous.

All people in the building have to go to the hotel.” In another case, it was reported that residents were asked to hand over their front door keys so that their apartment could be disinfected before they were taken away.

A video shows how a whole squad of epidemiologists sprayed a private apartment from top to bottom with disinfectant, including the items in the drawers.

Although the number of new infections in the 25 million metropolis fell to around three thousand on Tuesday, the remaining subway traffic in the city was completely stopped.

With the tightened measures, the local government is reacting to the decisions of the party leadership in Beijing.

The country's seven most powerful men met last Thursday, led by state and party leader Xi Jinping, and warned cadres across the country against "any slacking" in the fight against the virus.

A victory in the “fight to defend Shanghai” had been declared as the new goal of corona policy.

In addition, critics have been threatened that "any word or action that distorts, doubts or rejects our disease control policy will be vigorously opposed." Many Shanghainese, however, are so nervous that they refuse to be intimidated.

Shanghai columnist Lian Qingchuan wrote in a blog about how he tried in vain to

to see his dying mother one last time.

He threatened those responsible for “revenge”, called on his readers to support him and expressed anger at “the system”.

Hang out slogans from Xi

The corona measures were tightened again in the capital Beijing.

A requirement for access to “public places” is now a PCR test from the past 48 hours.

As in Shanghai, reports are now being sent that buses are forcibly taking people to quarantine camps in the middle of the night.

The nervousness increases noticeably.

"We're already talking about how to record a video when they come to get us," a Beijing resident said on the phone.

The prominent Shanghai virologist Zhang Wenhong, on the other hand, defended the Chinese corona policy on the website of the specialist journal “Lancet”.

Measures in Shanghai "may have prevented a large number of deaths" in other parts of the country, he wrote.

It's about "buying time" to vaccinate the 49 million unvaccinated Chinese over 60.

Xi Jinping delivered a nearly hour-long speech at the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday to mark the centenary of the founding of the Communist Youth League.

State television showed the young people in the hall eagerly taking notes while the party leader issued slogans of perseverance.

"You must dare to face difficulties and endure hardships." About the worries and hardships of the millions of Chinese who are not allowed to leave their homes because of the zero-Covid strategy and therefore fear for their professional and financial livelihoods, Xi said not a word.

In contrast, Premier Li Keqiang admitted over the weekend that the labor market situation is "complex and serious," but his influence is limited.