INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Shanghai authorities battling an outbreak of COVID-19 have erected tall fences outside some residential buildings, sparking fresh public
outcry over a lockdown that has forced much of the city&s 25 million population to stay at home.Images of white hazmat-suit-clad workers
sealing entrances of housing blocks and closing off entire streets with roughly two meter-tall green fencing went viral on social media on
Saturday, prompting questions and complaints from residents, Australia&s AAP news agency reported.&Isn&t this a fire hazard?,& asked one
user on social media platform Weibo.&This is so disrespectful of the rights of the people inside, using metal barriers to enclose them like
domestic animals,& said another.The Shanghai government did not respond to a request for comment.Most of the barriers appeared to have been
erected around compounds designated as &sealed areas&, which are buildings where at least one person has tested positive for COVID-19,
resulting in residents being forbidden from leaving their homes.Shanghai, China&s largest city and most important economic hub, is battling
the country&s biggest-ever reported COVID-19 outbreak with a policy that forces all positive cases into central quarantine facilities.The
lockdown, which for many residents has lasted more than three weeks, has fuelled frustration over difficulties accessing food and medical
care as well as lost wages, family separation, conditions at quarantine centers, and censorship of efforts to vent online.On Shanghai
recorded 19,657 new asymptomatic cases, versus 20,634 a day earlier, and 1,401 symptomatic cases, down from 2,736.Meanwhile, Beijing
recorded 22 new cases & all locally transmitted & compared to six the day before. The post Fences go up around apartment buildings as China
tightens Shanghai lockdown first appeared on Ariana News.
