Panicked shoppers rushed for the exits at an Ikea branch in Shanghai on Saturday after city health authorities ordered the store to lock down after a close contact of a Covid-19 case was traced to the location.
Multiple videos on social media showed customers yelling and pushing each other in an attempt to escape the building before the doors closed. In a press briefing Sunday, Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the Shanghai Health Commission, said the “store and affected area” would be under “closed loop” management for two days. People inside the loop must undergo two days of quarantine at a government facility and five days of health surveillance.
On Monday, city health authorities reported six locally transmitted Covid-19 cases in Shanghai, of which five were asymptomatic. The Ikea store in Shanghai’s Xuhui district was temporarily closed on Sunday and Monday in response to “epidemic prevention guidelines” from the authorities and will reopen Tuesday, Ikea’s China communications team told CNN.