Shanghai authorities on Wednesday called for calm as worried citizens swamped online grocery platforms to stock up on food over fears of impending lockdowns in a city struggling to halt a COVID-19 spike.
China is experiencing its worst COVID-19 outbreak since the start of the pandemic more than two years ago, with Shanghai posting record-high case counts as the highly transmissible omicron variant frustrates authorities.
China's biggest city on Wednesday reported 981 cases – all but four of them asymptomatic – a number that dwarfs any previous daily tally in the city and is nearly one-fifth of the day's national total.
Shanghai has responded to the outbreak with targeted residential lockdowns in areas with confirmed cases or close contacts rather than a city-wide lockdown, aiming to minimize disruption.
But as case counts rise, so has public anxiety, with residents taking to social media to express fears of further lockdowns across the city of roughly 25 million people.
Citizens have complained of unclear government messaging and voiced anxiety over images of expanding test sites and the announcement this week that some indoor arenas had been converted into mass-quarantine sites.
"We hope that everyone will not believe or spread rumors, and especially do not maliciously spread rumors that cause panic in society," Wu Jinglei, head of Shanghai's health commission said at a daily briefing. Those spreading rumors would "bear legal responsibility," he added.
"Everyone is working hard to keep the city safe."
Stores have bustled as consumers stock up, and social media images circulated late Tuesday showed crowds of shoppers converging on outdoor vegetable markets. The images could not be independently verified.
Online shoppers on Wednesday posted complaints that platforms were crashing under the strain or that some goods were unavailable.
"Everyone who used to buy offline is now buying online, so demand has indeed surged," said Chen Ying, spokesperson for online grocery platform Dingdong Maicai. "We now face some limits in terms of merchandise and manpower."
The coronavirus first emerged in the city of Wuhan in late 2019 but China has largely kept it under control through its tough zero-COVID strategy.
Authorities had recently suggested a lighter approach to minimize public and economic disruptions.
But omicron is straining those plans, particularly as Beijing nervously watches a deadly Hong Kong omicron surge that sparked panic buying and has claimed a high toll in the unvaccinated elderly.
Mainland health officials last week revealed that only around half of Chinese aged over 80 have been double-vaccinated.
Shanghai shut schools for nearly two weeks but has avoided the sort of citywide lockdown implemented in some northeastern cities hit by the current outbreak.
Still, its normally bustling streets are muted, with cars largely replaced by the zipping scooters of grocery and food-delivery riders and many restaurants closed or offering take-out only.
Citizens live daily with the risk of suddenly being confined to their home for anything from two to 14 days and long lines for nucleic acid tests form daily at hospitals.
Chinese media reported that some financial traders in Shanghai and Shenzhen had been staying overnight in their offices to avoid being sequestered at home.