It’s been over ten days since a resident of Danish Cathrine Mosegaard Hansen’s apartment complex tested positive for covid-19. That is why she is now locked up inside her apartment in Shanghai, which is currently experiencing a major outbreak of infection.
Cathrine Mosegaard Hansen has been living in China for four years and via videolink, she says to TV2, “We have not been able to leave our apartment complex. The front gate is locked and we have just been here waiting to be told when we can get out.”
At first, they were told that the shutdown would last for five days, but over ten days later she is still locked inside.
“We have just been told that we will be in lockdown for two more weeks. Because there is one person infected, the 14 days of isolation start all over again,” she says.
China has had a ” zero-covid” strategy during the pandemic which means that very strict restrictions are introduced and why Shanghai is completely shut down right now.
Only healthcare professionals, volunteers, and people with special permits may leave their homes. The severe restrictions have now led to growing dissatisfaction among the 25 million inhabitants, where some inhabitants have been locked up for over a month and where food shortages have occurred due to the closure.
And Cathrine Mosegaard Hansen can feel that too.
“We are online every day and try to order food. In China, there are a lot of apps and stores that make sure that you can get takeaway, but right now it is all closed except for a few supermarkets,” she explains.
Cathrine Mosegaard Hansen was skeptical, however, when she was first told that the lockdown would last five days, so she bought extra food but water was harder to obtain. In addition, she has also received emergency rations because she is a foreigner living and working in the country.
It is of course a very special situation to end up in, Cathrine Mosegaard Hansen says.
In the apartment she shares with her boyfriend, she still tries to have a “fairly ordinary life”, as she describes it, where she works via her computer. They are only allowed out twice a week for testing across the street.
“If you test negative, you will get the answer a few hours later via an app, but if you test positive, you end up in a so-called covid-19 camp with others who have tested positive,” she explains.
However, she hopes she will not have to go there. “I have heard rumors that if you test positive as a foreigner or have a family, you may be allowed to stay home,” she says.
