A viral video captured shoppers at Ikea panicking as Chinese officials tried to seal up the doors after contact tracing led to a 6-year-old who had been at the store.
The incident unfolded on Saturday at the Ikea branch in Shanghai, the largest city in China with more than 20 million people.
Videos shows customers shouting and pushing to get out of the store as officials closed in to try to shut the doors on them. Eventually the customers are able to push their way out and escape to freedom.
On Sunday, Shanghai Health Commission deputy director Zhao Dandan said at a media briefing that the store and the immediate area would be under a “closed loop” management for two days. People within the closed loop will be quarantined at a government facility for two days and also be under health surveillance for five days.
Dandan said the lockdown of the Ikea was ordered because a 6-year-old boy had been at the store and also been in close contact with someone who had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Ikea’s China communications team told CNN that the store would be closed for two days based on “epidemic prevention guidelines” put in place by the city.
The Chinese government has instituted draconian lockdown measures in its attempt to stamp out the coronavirus outbreak. Among the more extreme official orders have been the confinement of entire cities and neighborhoods.
In March, government officials ordered a phased lockdown in Shanghai that led to food delivery orders being cancelled and shortages of medicine.
The zero-COVID policies have had a devastating effect on local economies and residents are increasingly objecting to the lockdown.
Here’s the viral video of the Ikea lockdown:
China: Shoppers flee as health authorities attempt to lock down IKEA amid zero-Covid policy
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