Millions were stuck at home in China’s Chengdu on Friday after a handful of Covid-19 cases brought the megacity to a standstill.
Supermarket shelves were cleared this week as locals in the city – an economic hub in southwest China of 21 million people – feared a repeat of the months-long lockdown in the eastern metropolis of Shanghai earlier this year.
Long lines of residents queued for mandatory testing, while videos verified by AFP showed supermarket shelves stripped of produce.
A local, who asked not to be identified, told AFP he believes “everyone is stocking up crazy” due to the experience in Shanghai, which was hit by food shortages during its lockdown.
The 25-year-old said he had been in the eastern city during the shutdown and had been “habitually stocking up” ever since before Chengdu’s latest measures were announced.
According to the rules in force until Sunday, each household is allowed to send one person per day to shop for groceries and essential goods if they have tested negative for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, an official statement said.
It added that all residents would be tested for the virus and urged them not to leave the city unless it was “absolutely necessary”.
The mood appeared to be calmer on social media on Friday, with some residents saying they could order groceries to be delivered to their apartment gates and go grocery shopping.
Others said they slept in their offices so as not to miss work.
Authorities had initially tried to quash talk of an impending lockdown, and police said they arrested a man for “inciting panic” after he warned the city could be shut down.
His case drew online attention on Friday, with many on the Twitter-like Weibo platform questioning his punishment, calling him a “hero” for warning his fellow citizens.
Authorities ordered several rounds of mass testing between Thursday and Sunday, with the city reporting 150 local Covid-19 infections on Friday, 47 of which were asymptomatic.
China is the latest major economy to commit to a zero-Covid policy, stamping out virus outbreaks with shutdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines.
This has proved increasingly challenging since the emergence of the fast-spreading Omicron strain, with all provinces in mainland China reporting local infections over the past decade.
Five districts in Shenzhen’s southern tech hub closed bars and movie theaters on Thursday, with rumors of a city-wide lockdown prompting a stampede on online grocery apps.
Last month, travelers in the southern island province of Hainan protested after more than 80,000 tourists were stranded in a resort town over a Covid-19 outbreak.
