Shanghai turns residences into COVID-19 isolation facilities, sparking protest

SHANGHAI: Shanghai is converting residential buildings into quarantine centres to house a mounting number of COVID-19 cases, but the move is sparking anger and protest from neighbours worried they are being put at increased risk of infection.

In an incident livestreamed on Thursday (Apr 14) afternoon on Chinese messaging platform WeChat, about 30 people wearing hazmat suits with the word "police" on their back could be seen scuffling with other people outside a housing compound, taking away at least one person.

A woman could be heard weeping as she filmed the scene, which was watched by over 10,000 people before it was abruptly cut, with the WeChat livestream platform announcing it had contained "dangerous content".

"It's not that I don't want to cooperate with the country, but how would you feel if you live in a building where the blocks are only 10m apart, everyone has tested negative, and these people are allowed in?," said the woman who was filming and did not disclose her real name.

The video could not be independently verified but the dispute was confirmed by the building's management on Friday.

The Zhangjiang Group, which owns the compound, said authorities had converted five of its vacant buildings into isolation facilities and it had been advised a further nine buildings would be converted.

It said it had moved 39 rental tenants to rooms in other parts of the compound and had offered them compensation.

"On the afternoon of Apr 14, when our company organised the construction of the isolation fence, some tenants obstructed the construction site," the group said in a statement, adding the situation had now been resolved.

The Shanghai government did not respond immediately to a request for comment on its current quarantine policy.