Shanghai IKEA shoppers try to escape after a spontaneous lockdown was called in the shop

Shoppers fled an IKEA in Shanghai as authorities tried to lock down the store.

The chaotic scenes were caught on camera at around 8pm on Saturday (13 August), as hordes of people fled an IKEA in the Xuhui district.

Health officials tried to impose the spontaneous lockdown after a customer was identified as a close contact of a six-year-old boy who tested positive for Covid. Watch below:

Footage shows customers rushing out of exits as officials try to close the doors.

However, the shoppers manage to break through, and proceed to argue with those trying to contain the crowd.

One user took to Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, to share their experience.

They explained they were held in IKEA from 8pm to midnight, before being transferred across to a quarantine hotel.

Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the Shanghai Health Commission, went on to shed further light on the situation, saying that those at IKEA would be subject to a 'close-loop' quarantine.

This means that customers in the store on Saturday would have to quarantine for two days and follow a further five days of health monitoring.

u/flyingcatwithhorns/Reddit

People were quick to react to the footage on social media, with users on Reddit saying: "They were locking the people in the building? For how long?"

Others had logistical questions, with one writing: "I could see those fake bathrooms getting pretty bad..."

But some argued that being trapped in the hard-to-construct furniture store wouldn't be so bad. One said: "You could build and furnish a little mini house in a corner somewhere, and then feast on delicious meatballs!"

Hey, at least you'd have plenty to do, like read 100 pages worth of instructions for building a flat pack wardrobe.

A fourth said: "It's really odd... China reacts to any trace of Covid as if it's the bubonic plague.

"I'm not saying that Covid isn't serious... but anytime you see or hear of China's reaction to Covid, it's like they're five seconds from setting the place on fire."

u/flyingcatwithhorns/Reddit

This isn't the first spontaneous lockdown that's been called in China in recent months.

Due to the country's 'zero-Covid' policy, there have been impromptu lockdowns in gyms, offices, and even restaurants.

Earlier this year, the 25 million people that live in Shanghai were subjected to a strict two-month lockdown to quell a surge in Covid cases.

Residents were not allowed to leave their designated areas and had to be tested frequently.

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