Further to the postponement of Hangzhou Asian games to 2023, China's two biggest cities, Shanghai and Beijing have now tightened COVID-19 curbs on their residents on Monday. The move is fueling frustration and even questions about the legality of its uncompromising battle with the virus.

While there has been no official announcement, over the weekend some residents in at least four of Shanghai’s 16 districts received notices saying they were no longer able to leave their homes or receive deliveries as part of the effort to drive community infections down to zero, reports Reuters.

In Beijing, residents of its worst-hit areas were told to work from home while more roads, compounds and parks were sealed off on Monday as the city of 22 million grappled with its worst outbreak since 2020.

Simmering public anger was obvious on online accounts of authorities forcing neighbours of positive cases into centralised quarantine and demanding that they hand over the keys to their homes to be disinfected, which legal experts denounced as unlawful.

Professor Tong Zhiwei, who teaches law at the East China University of Political Science and Law, wrote in an essay widely circulated on social media on Sunday that such acts were illegal and should stop.

Liu Dali, a lawyer from one of China's largest law firms, wrote a similar letter to authorities.

Copies of both letters were censored from the Chinese internet though users have reposted screenshots.

China said it will stick to its zero-COVID policy to fight a disease that first emerged in the city of Wuhan in late 2019, despite the mounting toll on its economy.

Authorities have also warned against criticism of a policy that they say is saving lives.
-Reuters