Channeling Howard Beale ...

Peter Finch as Howard Beale

In indirect fashion, the city of Shanghai is mad as hell and is not going to take it any more thanks to Zero Covid and total lockdown even though said draconian practice's not working.

Disturbing footage captures the moment ordinary citizens in Shanghai appear to start screaming out of their windows, after being forbidden from leaving their houses for over a week.

It gets better ...

A journalist in Shanghai, who wanted to remain anonymous, told France 24: “There are much, much more cases than at the peak in Wuhan [in 2020]. This is extreme in terms of numbers, but actually, the cases are mainly Omicron.

“So the gravity of the situation isn’t that bad, but the government wasn’t sure how far it was going to go.

“They are still abiding by the zero-COVID policy. They are using a 2020 method for the 2022 virus.”

Food delivery apps are showing up as completely out of stock, pushing many to breaking point.

Chinese government censors have taken down videos and articles seen as critical of the lockdown, but this hasn’t stopped information leaking out.

Frustrated residents have taken to the Chinese social media network Weibo to complain about a lack of food and chaotic lockdown measures.

One wrote: “No matter where you live, whether you have money or not, you have to worry about what else you can eat and how you can buy things.”

The entire city of Shanghai has been under strict lockdown since April 5.

Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images

Addendum, the shutdown's beginning to ease ... slowly, very very slowly ...

BEIJING (AP) — Some residents of Shanghai were allowed out of their homes as the city of 25 million eased a two-week-old shutdown Tuesday after a video posted online showed what was said to be people who ran out of food breaking into a supermarket.

About 6.6 million people can go outdoors, but some must stay in their own neighborhoods, the online news outlet The Paper reported, citing city officials. The government said some markets and pharmacies would reopen.

Addendum II

An image of people in protective gear in Shanghai unloading groceries from a truck.

People in protective gear unload groceries from a truck before distributing them to locals under the Covid-19 lockdown in Shanghai, China.Wang Gang/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Shanghai is flying drones over districts to tell citizens under lockdown to 'curb your soul's desire for freedom' and comply with COVID-19 restrictions

• Videos have surfaced on Chinese social media platform Weibo of drones broadcasting COVID-19 rules.
• One of the drones instructed residents to "control your soul's desire for freedom" and stay indoors.
• Other drones were also seen flying around Shanghai to broadcast masking and social distancing rules.