Chinese Covid-19 lockdowns: Jilin residents vent anger over food shortages
- Social media posts include complaints of scarce vegetables, no meat and unanswered hotline
- Official in city of Tonghua, which has 2 million-plus residents, apologises for failure to deliver necessities and pledges more help
Some residents in Tonghua in Jilin province, a city of more than 2 million people that entered a lockdown last Monday, vented their frustration on social media over a shortage of groceries, a rise in food prices and a lack of medicines.
“We have no option but to seek help online. We would not complain after starving for just one or two days. We didn’t have enough time to stock up after the sudden lockdown announcement.”
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The criticism triggered an apology from the local government, which said efforts to tackle the virus outbreak had left it short of personnel.
“I sincerely apologise on behalf of the government for not being able to deliver daily necessities in time for our citizens and for causing inconvenience to everyone’s lives,” Tonghua’s deputy mayor Jiang Haiyan said at a press conference on Sunday.