amna: Today Shanghai, China's
largest city, reported 27,000
new covid cases.
That is the highest single-day
total reported anywhere in
China, at any point during the
pandemic.
Much of the city's 25 million
people have been under strict
lockdown for three weeks.
Guangzhou, with 15 million
residents, is now closed to
visitors.
Nick schifrin reports on China's
zero covid policy that has
pushed residents in Shanghai to
frustration and anger.
[Shouting in mandarin]
Nick: In one of the world's
richest cities, residents
scream, "Give us food."
Last week they were so hungry,
they ransacked a grocery store.
In this apartment complex, a
woman screams, "We are starving
to death."
But police in hazmat suits
enforce the rules by any means
necessary.
They take a woman who didn't
want to test and separate her
from her husband.
Just yesterday, a man tried to
hide on his balcony.
No match for authorities
imposing one of the world's
strictest lockdowns.
[Shouting in mandarin]
Nick: And after three weeks of
containment, residents are
willing to confront the
communist state.
The anger aimed both ways.
A city worker had to be
restrained from attacking a
resident who criticized him.
Today, as they do every day,
residents lined up for mandatory
tests.
And some restrictions have been
eased.
But much of this metropolis is
still locked in silence.
Everywhere you turn, yellow
barricades barricade apartment
buildings.
Other buildings' front doors are
taped, warning residents against
going in or out.
This is home for an American who
asked us to keep him anonymous.
>> Initially it was, where can I
buy an egg?
And in the city of Shanghai,
that's kind of crazy.
Most of the day is occupied with
trying to secure food and water
supplies, other essentials.
There's a lot of rising
frustration.
There's also a lot of young
people who are willing to step
up and help.
Nick: The way he's helping,
organizing bulk food and water
purchases, designed to last a
week.
It's the only way to get around
food shortages.
>> People just want the basic
needs met and they want, I
think, basic respect.
Nick: Beijing has worked to
improve the access to food.
But it rejects calls to ease
lockdowns or allow the country
to live with covid, which means
residents still acutely fear
getting sick from neighbors, or
being quarantined.
>> We had learned that the
infected person had gone through
that stairwell.
And we said, we can't go down.
We don't have, you know,
contamination suits.
At any time, you could be taken
from your place and put into
indefinitely one of these
quarantine centers.
>> So, this is basically how my
room looks like.
138 is my number.
Nick: This is a quarantine
center.
People who test positive are
forced to live here communally.
>> Now we're going to walk into
the bathroom area.
Nick: This was an exhibition
center.
Now it's home to 4000 people.
This was filmed by Jane
polubotko.
She says she's the only
foreigner.
>> The facilities are not great.
We don't actually -- we don't
have a shower here, so it's been
like 18 days without shower.
The lights that you see here in
my background, they are on,
24/7.
They never turned them off.
Nick: You have any privacy?
>> [Laughter]
No, no, no.
Over there we have the main
entrance where people come
inside.
Nick: Her past three tests have
been negative, but she still has
no idea when she can leave.
>> This uncertainty, lack of
communication that just adds up
on that, you know, collective
anxiety, basically, what people
are having here.
It's not only me who feels
frustrated, angry, anxious.
I really don't understand why we
were forced to be here when
we are actually not that
dangerous for the society.
Nick: Beijing defends its zero
covid policy as saving lives.
China claims only 13,000 covid
deaths, as foreign ministry
spokesman Zhao lijian argued on
Tuesday.
>> China's dynamic zero-covid
policy and anti-epidemic
protocols are based on science
and expert opinions.
They have effectively protected
the life and health of Chinese
and foreign nationals living in
China.
Nick: But it's also about
political stability.
>> That policy in China, you
cannot justify that from a
public health perspective.
Nick: Yanzhong huang is the
council on foreign relations'
senior fellow for global health.
>> When the top leader himself,
is personally invested in the
policy, that policy u-turn could
undermine his personal
leadership and even cause
him problems for regime
legitimacy.
Nick: Beijing is also worried
about its health care system
being overrun.
But covid restrictions limit
Shanghai hospitals' ability to
provide regular health care.
And social media is full of
videos of patients rejected
care.
Pleas to health care workers
ignored.
And a desperate family for whom
health care was kept out of
reach.
[Shouting]
Nick: Yesterday, a man yelled at
visiting officials, there wasn't
enough to eat.
He was later detained.
The restrictions in rich,
educated shanghathreaten to
create the very political
instability officials are trying
to prevent, says university of
Toronto professor Lynette Ong.
>> Once people start questioning
that, they would show some sort
of resistance either overtly or
covertly.
And that in itself may actually
evolve into another source of
social unrest.
Nick: But authorities appear
unmoved and continue heavy
handed tactics.
>> Any sort of positive cases or
death rate means that the
officials have failed to perform
their duties, and that would
look very bad on their career.
Which is why you see all sorts
of measures, counter intuitive,
sometimes to the extent of being
silly, being taken.
Nick: For polubotko, that means
it's time to leave China after
eight years, even if home is
Ukraine.
She's from a city in the middle
of the war.
>> I only want to get out of
here.
I definitely cannot wait to go
to Ukraine.
Nick: For her, a warzone seems
better than covid zero, with no
end in sight.
For the "Pbs newshour," I'm Nick
schifrin.
♪♪