The Catalan Alberto Fernández, manager of Torres wineries in China, the confinement in Shanghai caught him with a well-stocked fridge. "We had four days to prepare," he says by phone. But this is not the case of many other neighbors, who did not stockpile enough supplies -in principle the closure was only going to last a few days- and now they hardly have anything to eat. “There are many problems to buy food or to get it home. The authorities were considered good managers, but their disorganization has caused people to be very burned out, ”he adds.

For weeks, the economic lung of China has been under strict confinement that still has no release date. Its 26 million inhabitants, unaccustomed to straits, have taken to social networks to air a discontent that grows with the passing of days. To the shortage of food or medicine is added the difficulty in accessing certain medical treatments, the state of the quarantine centers, some episodes of violence against pets of infected people or the policy of separating positive children from their healthy parents. The wave of popular indignation over this last measure was so great that it forced the partial rectification of the authorities.

Boredom is not limited to social networks. There are many videos of discussions and fights between officials and residents who do not consider certain decisions fair. When Shanghai Communist Party chief Li Qiang visited a neighborhood this week, several residents vociferously berated him for food supply problems.















In another recent episode, police officers dressed in protective suits confronted a group of neighbors who opposed several floors being converted into quarantine centers. "This is crazy. Aren't the bureaucrats ashamed of what is happening these weeks?” complained one of those present.

Given the growing discontent over an isolation that was scheduled to end on the 5th, the police have warned that those who skip the dictated measures will be treated in "strict accordance" with the law. Likewise, they exhorted the population not to distribute false news and warned against speculation in the price of food, which has skyrocketed in recent days.

Despite the restrictions, the city has recorded more than 300,000 infections since the beginning of March at a rate of more than 20,000 daily, the vast majority asymptomatic, and zero deaths, a disparity so great that it raises doubts among experts. For many Shanghainese, these figures do not justify the strict measures taken and the damage they are causing to the economy, which is why they ask for a gradual liberalization with which to return to normality as soon as possible.