CNN has reached out to Ikea’s press office in Shanghai for comment. At a press briefing on Sunday, Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the Shanghai Health Commission, said the “store and affected area” would be under “closed-loop” management for two days. People inside the loop must spend two days of quarantine and five days of health surveillance. On Monday, the city’s health authorities reported six locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 in Shanghai, five of which were asymptomatic. Shanghai, China’s financial capital and home to 25 million people, was locked down for two months earlier this year, sparking widespread public anger as residents reported difficulties in ordering daily necessities such as food and medicine. The lockdown was imposed as part of China’s rigid zero-Covid policy, which relies on mass testing, widespread quarantines and even locking down entire cities to stamp out any resurgence of the virus. Relying on mobile phone technology and big data, the Chinese government is using a color-based “health code” system to control people’s movements and limit the spread of the virus. People in many Chinese cities must present a green health QR code to ride public transport and enter places such as shopping malls, gyms and restaurants. The system records where they are and whether they have been in contact with a confirmed case of Covid-19 — those whose health codes turn red face almost certain confinement in quarantine facilities. Emergency lockdowns have become commonplace in the country, with the public growing increasingly frustrated with the strict rules as the economy struggles to adjust to the disruption. Last week, more than 80,000 tourists were stranded on the popular resort island of Hainan after authorities announced quarantine measures to contain the virus outbreak.
