Highlight
- Health officials were trying to lock the shop in Xuhui district
- It can be seen in the video that the guards are closing the doors at one place, but the mob forcefully opened the door.
- Ikea store was ordered to close abruptly because six-year-old boy had close contact
China Ikea Viral Video: A viral video shows people walking out of a mall in Shanghai, China, fearing they will be caught and put in concentration camps in view of the COVID pandemic protocol.
The incident is being told of an Ikea store in a mall in Shanghai.
Shopkeepers can be seen trying to run away from the shop while officials try to stop and quarantine them.
After the whole episode an announcement was made to the shopkeepers that the mall was being closed due to COVID contact tracing.
The shopkeepers were feared to be sent to Kovid camps when contact tracing was done.
The BBC reported that health officials were attempting to close the store in Xuhui district on Saturday because a customer was in close contact with a positive COVID case.
According to the BBC report, it can be seen in the video that the guards were closing the doors at one place, but the mob forcefully opened them and fled from there.
Shanghai faced two months of severe lockdown earlier this year.
Since then, in line with the country’s strict “zero-Covid” strategy, the city of 20 million people has ordered a flash lockdown of areas where positive cases or their close contacts have been detected.
The BBC reported that many people have been locked up in unusual places – including hot pot restaurants, gyms and offices.
Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the Shanghai Health Commission, said on Sunday that the Ikea store was suddenly ordered closed because of close contacts of a six-year-old boy who tested positive after returning to Shanghai from Lhasa, Tibet.
According to the BBC report, he did not say when he had close contacts at the store.
Zhao said those who were in the Ikea store and related areas would have to be quarantined for two days followed by five days of health monitoring.
As of Sunday, nearly 400 close contacts of the six-year-old boy had been traced, while 80,000 people were ordered to undergo PCR tests, according to the Shanghai Daily.
Ikea’s customer service said on Sunday that the store was closed due to COVID restrictions.
The flagship Zhuhui store, which opened in 1998, was the Swedish furniture retailer’s first outlet in China. It now has 35 outlets across the country.
China has stuck to its zero-Covid approach to slowing the spread of the coronavirus, despite its huge impact on the economy and a growing public outcry.
Panic scenes at Ikea last week showed people in another part of Shanghai exiting a building over rumors of an unusual COVID test result, the BBC reported.
Shanghai’s citywide lockdown earlier this year saw widespread reports of food shortages and poor living conditions in quarantine centres.
Frustrated residents were filmed during the pandemic arguing with staff and shouting from windows to protest the restrictions.
,IANS. with inputs,
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