Shanghai’s Covid-19 exclusion zones have been exposed in a GB News exclusive as China's second-largest city continues to grapple with record high virus cases.
Under China's zero-Covid policy, everyone who tests positive must quarantine at designated sites and the neighbours are asked to isolate in their homes for 14 days.
In Shanghai, the epicentre of the China's virus outbreak, they have converted schools, recently finished apartment blocks and exhibition halls into quarantine centres, and announced last week it had set up more than 160,000 beds across more than 100 make-shift hospitals.
Jane Polubotko, a Ukrainian national living in Shanghai, has been quarantined in one of the temporary facilities for 19 days and said it has "not been a nice experience".
Speaking to GB News' Dan Wootton from the building, she said: "We’re locked up in this huge building with around 4,000 people inside.
"Luckily half of the people have now left, unfortunately I was not one of them."
She added that she was hoping to get out within the next few days.
She slammed the Chinese government for not providing any clear communication on when they’re allowed to leave the quarantine sites.
According to regulations, authorities in China are allowed to take over buildings and other properties in order to deal with emergency situations.
Some of those locked down in Shanghai have vented frustration on social media over the difficulties in getting food and poor conditions at central quarantine facilities.
During the city-wide lockdown, Shanghai's shops were closed, except for some with half-opened shutters from which goods were being carried to waiting delivery drivers.
Today, the city, which has recorded more than 300,000 Covid infections since March posted a slight decline in new infections.
China's efforts to stop the virus with a strict "zero-Covid" policy are triggering economic disruptions that are rippling through global supply chains for goods from electric vehicles to iPhones.
Cameron Johnson, head of Asia Pacific at FAO Global, a consulting firm specialising in China, said: "It's a knock-on effect through the whole supply chain.
He told Sky News: "What you will see if this continues, is at some point it will affect business in the UK. It may be just that delivery is delayed by a month or two, or it could be costs going up."
Volunteers in protective suits prepare to disinfect a residential compound in Shanghai, China
CHINA DAILY
CHINA DAILY
People rest at a quarantine centre near Linkong Skate Park in Changning District, Shanghai
Reuters
Jane Polubotko speaking to Dan Wootton on GB news
GB News