Coronavirus: Shanghai residents rely on group chats, shared documents to survive lockdown
- Two widely circulated medical-related documents were initiated online by local college students after the recent Covid-19 outbreak in the city
- Amid the Pudong lockdown, more than 20 hospitals have closed their regular outpatient services, adding pressure to stretched medical resources
A coronavirus lockdown in Shanghai is forcing many of its 26 million residents to rely on group chats and shared online documents to source food and daily necessities.
Horace Lu, a 32-year-old public relations professional in Shanghai, did not expect that his professional skills would come in handy for buying fresh produce. Since the phased citywide lockdown started five days ago, he has been able to purchase 2,700 yuan (US$425) worth of vegetables and meat, and 500 eggs, for himself and neighbours, with the help of basic online work tools.
Lu uses Tencent’s Questionnaires and Tencent Docs – the Shenzhen-based tech giant’s answer to online document Google Docs – to collect information from some 60 people in a WeChat group and pass it to a food supplier.
Many of Shanghai’s 26 million residents have turned to commonly used tools for crowdsourcing, to disseminate essential information and connect people needing help, as the city faces potential shortages of food supplies and medical resources amid its worst Covid-19 outbreak so far.
On Thursday, Ma Chunlei, secretary general of Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, publicly apologised for providing “inadequate guarantees for people’s livelihoods in sealed-off areas”.
“The city is facing a severe lack of medical resources due to the pandemic, and those who need emergency treatment are not getting enough attention,” said Hua Rongqi, a college student at the University of International Business and Economics, who created the “emergency help” online document on Wednesday night after seeing critically ill people seeking help on social media.