I've been stuck inside for 2 months due to Shanghai's COVID-19 lockdowns. It's taken a toll on me.

Aerial view of an empty road in Pudong district after Shanghai imposed a citywide lockdown to halt the spread of COVID-19 in Shanghai.

Xiang Xinrong/VCG via Getty Images

• In March, Shanghai implemented strict COVID-19 testing and lockdowns as Omicron cases rose. 
• At first, residents were told they'd last five days. But one person who spoke to Insider said they've been inside for more than 60.
• This is their story, as told to writer Stefano Montali.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a 30-year-old foreigner currently living in Shanghai. The source requested anonymity to protect themselves, but their identity and location have been verified by Insider. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

In March, Shanghai went into strict lockdown amid a rise in Omicron cases. It started with mass testing, and then an initial five-day period where we had to stay in our homes. In mid-April, the city recorded 26,000 daily new COVID-19 cases. Now, we're at about 1,500, and restrictions are starting to lift, with city officials saying they aim to have everything return to normal by June 1.

When the lockdown was first announced on March 28, the government told us it would be for only those five days only. I went to the store and stocked up on the food and necessities that I'd need. Five days seemed manageable, especially after everything that's happened over the last couple of years here. 

But more than two months later, I was still stuck inside my building in Shanghai. I spent more than 60 days living alone before I was allowed to leave my housing compound — and even then, I had to stay in the district I lived in. It's been tough.

Even with the drastically fewer number of things to do, I've realized how much I need to multitask 

For example, when I wake up each morning, I make breakfast and turn on my computer to start my work at a public-relations firm. 

But now, in lockdown, I also have to go online and place my order for anything I need from the store. The delivery companies have a special permit that allows them to be on the street, and it's the only way — other than the food delivery that comes sporadically from the local government — to get what we need. 

A delivery worker and a cyclist ride across a street in the central business district during what is normally the morning rush hour, as most nonessential workers in the district have been ordered to work from home in the Chaoyang district on Tuesday, May 10, 2022

AP Photo/Andy Wong

I'd already lived in my flat for about two years before the pandemic, but I didn't even know who my neighbors were when the lockdowns started. That's definitely changed. These days, we often order in bulk together directly from food distributors, who deliver directly to our building — things like coffee or milk. 

I love ham, so in our big WeChat group, I asked who else would like to order it. I then collected the money and called the distributor myself. A lot of the elderly people in my building don't know how to use the internet or apps, so we try and help them order what they need. 

The only fun part of this whole experience was trading food with my neighbors

At the beginning of lockdown, I still had things in my fridge that others didn't. As neighbors, we started trading for things we needed but couldn't order online. For example, I had three bottles of coke in my fridge. I traded one bottle to a neighbor for some bananas, and then another bottle for a few cans of Budweiser. 

Now that we've been inside for so long, we all pretty much have access to the same food and drinks, so the trading doesn't really work anymore. Cooking, eating, and cleaning for myself, day in and day out, has become such a monotonous experience. 

I feel like we're in survival mode sometimes

I spend most of my day doing my job in the living room, but because there's no real set time to stop, I end up working different hours. It's definitely hard to focus on my full-time job while also dealing with all of the extra things we have to do. 

I usually spend my nights watching variety TV shows.

The COVID-19 restrictions change so often that it's hard to keep up with the latest

Because of this, I make sure to watch the news every day. If someone tests positive, then they're taken away to one of the central quarantine locations around Shanghai: in Jiangwan stadium, or a designated hotel. 

I had a friend who tested positive one day, but then got negative results the next. When local authorities called her to take her to a quarantine location, she refused and they eventually let it go. I don't think they have the personnel to really enforce the policy for every single case. 

It seems like a lot of the world has moved on from the pandemic, but for some reason, China is obsessed with having no cases

It's hard when I see my family and friends back in Malaysia traveling and I'm stuck inside. I had a bit of a breakdown at the beginning of the lockdown, so now my friends and family send me a lot of nice messages. 

A deliveryman rides on the near-empty street during the phased lockdown triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak on April 9, 2022 in Shanghai, China.

Zhou You/VCG via Getty Images

As a foreigner from Malaysia, I'm grateful to live here and to be able to work here. So I follow the rules, but the whole situation has definitely taken a toll on me. 

I'm not the only one. I know a lot of expats have left China, but there's no guarantee that you'll be let back in — even with a valid visa. I haven't seen my family in around three years, so it's something I think about.

Even with our lockdown situations, so much of my life is here that it would be risky to leave it all behind

It's wild to think that this all started in the spring. Now summer is here, and we're still in the same reality.

It's very hard, but I've become pretty numb to it. I hope that we're able to leave soon, but there's just no way of knowing when that will happen.

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