Reporter’s diary: in the seventh straight week of Shanghai’s lockdown, it feels like I’m living in a parallel universe

The start of another week in Shanghai – the seventh straight one under lockdown – and breakfast this morning was shumai, a traditional dim sum snack. These haven’t been available until recently, so it was a nice change from my usual meal of bread and porridge. As I enjoyed the dim sum, I watched a live television broadcast where local officials, for the first time, provided a timeline for a gradual return to normal life in this city of 25 million.

But my joy was short-lived. A new “quiet period” notice popped into my message box, ordering everyone in my residential compound to stay at home unless they are taking a nucleic acid test. Delivery services will be strictly limited to essentials such as rice, noodles, meat and milk, said the notice, issued by the neighbourhood committee – a grass roots, self-managed group that rarely was involved in people’s lives before the pandemic, but now carries out orders from above.

It was the third such notice this month. The first covered May 9-11, and the second extended the period to May 15. The new notice did not even provide an end date.

Meanwhile, the live government press conference was still on television, with officials saying Shanghai had already opened some shopping malls and would aim to end the lockdown by June 1. Looking again at the notice on my phone, it felt like I was living in a parallel universe.

Others feel the same way, apparently. Some confined residents even left comments on the social media account of the National Anti-Fraud Centre, asking the watchdog to discipline the Shanghai government for presenting an image of the city “back to normal” when many people were still locked up. The comments were quickly removed by the censors.

Despite all the strict rules enforced in recent days, my building reported a new positive Covid-19 case on Wednesday, which means I can’t go for any more walks in my residential compound. To enforce that rule, a medical worker in a white hazmat suit, known locally as dabai or “big white”, will set up a bed on the ground floor of our building to make sure nobody leaves the building – 24/7.

To be sure, it might take some time for a policy of relaxation announced by officials on TV to trickle down to 25 million residents, helping improve our day-to-day life. Friends living in the Pudong area have told me they received a pass that allows them to leave their residential compound twice over the next six days, even though the streets remain quiet. There are also photos circulating online that show some of the fences erected along streets have been removed.