On Saturday, there were chaotic scenes at an Ikea store in Shanghai, with customers attempting to flee as security personnel sought to contain them.

An attempt was being made by health inspectors to close down the business in the Xuhui district because a consumer had been in close proximity to a positive Covid case.

Videos show the guards at one point locking the doors, but a throng forced them open, allowing the inmates to go.

Earlier this year, Shanghai experienced a brutal two-month lockdown.

Since then, the 20 million-person metropolis has mandated flash lockdowns in regions where positive patients or their close connections have been discovered in accordance with the nation’s rigorous “zero-Covid” plan.

Many people have been imprisoned in unexpected places, such as hot pot restaurants, gyms, and businesses.

A six-year-old youngster who tested positive after returning to Shanghai from Lhasa in Tibet had a close contact who had just visited, according to Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the Shanghai Health Commission, who ordered the store’s abrupt closure.

He did not specify the precise time that the close contact is thought to have visited the shop.

According to Mr. Zhao, everyone who visited the Ikea shop and nearby regions must undergo a two-day quarantine and five days of health monitoring.

According to Shanghai Daily, by Sunday over 400 of the six-year-old youngster’s close connections had been located and 80,000 individuals had been instructed to undergo PCR testing. The boy had no symptoms.

On Sunday, Ikea’s customer service said that the closure was a result of Covid restrictions.

The first shop for the Swedish furniture retailer in China was the flagship Xuhui store, which debuted in 1998. There are currently 35 locations for it nationwide.

Despite the significant negative effects on the economy and the public’s growing vociferous opposition, China has maintained its zero-Covid strategy for limiting the development of the coronavirus.

The images of terror at Ikea come after recordings last week showed people fleeing a building in another area of Shanghai due to rumors of an unexpected Covid test result.

There were several allegations of food shortages and bad living conditions in quarantine centers during Shanghai’s citywide lockdown earlier this year.

During this period, angry residents were seen yelling out of windows in protest at the restrictions and getting into heated disputes with medical workers.