Customers forced out of an Ikea store in Shanghai after they learned it would go into Covid-19 lockdown | Globalism
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Customers at Ikea Department Store in Shanghaiin ChinaThe establishment was forced to move out on Saturday (13) after announcing the closure of the place with its customers inside, on suspicion of person-to-person contact with Covid-19.
Videos circulating on Chinese social media showed customers pushing security guards in a panic as the sound system announced the mall was closed due to tracking of people who had been in contact with the disease. (look up)
Ikea customer service confirmed on Sunday that the mall is closed due to Covid-19 containment rules.
The impetus for the closure, according to the BBC, was that the store took in someone who had been in contact with a 6-year-old who had tested positive for Covid-19, despite not showing symptoms.
According to the deputy director of the Shanghai Health Commission, Zhao Dandan, all the people who have been in the store for two days will be isolated in their homes and will be monitored for 5 days.
There is no information on how many people were in the store at the time, but according to the local “Shanghai Daily”, about 400 people had direct contact with the boy and 80,000 people were tracked down and asked to take a PCR test.
Customers forced out of an Ikea store, in Shanghai, when they learned it was going into a Covid-19 lockdown – Image: Reproduction/Social Networks
Shanghai, China’s most populous city, recorded five new cases of the disease on Saturday, all asymptomatic, while 2,467 internally transmitted cases were reported across the country.
China is subject to a so-called “Covid-zero” policy, which aims to prevent each outbreak from spreading quickly. Local governments have imposed shorter lockdowns where people are prevented from non-essential movement for a few days or weeks until the situation is brought under control.
Shanghai has extended weekly COVID-19 testing requirements and extended free testing until the end of September in a bid to keep the virus at bay.
Amid this strict control, there are reports of urgent closure orders, including in unusual places, such as stores, restaurants and gyms.
Customers try to leave an Ikea store, in Shanghai, when they learn it will go into a Covid-19 lockdown – Image: Reproduction/Social Media
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