Panicked shoppers at an Ikea store in China were locked inside for more than 4 hours because of a COVID-19 infection risk, report says
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- An Ikea store in Shanghai was locked down because of a COVID-19 infection risk, Bloomberg reported.
- Shoppers reportedly ran to the exits, where security guards tried to close the doors, videos show.
- Authorities said a shopper had been in contact with someone infected with COVID-19, per Bloomberg.
Health authorities in Shanghai locked down an Ikea store for more than four hours Saturday after discovering a visitor had been in contact with a person infected with COVID-19, Bloomberg reported Monday.
The snap lockdown prompted panicked shoppers to scream and run for the exits before the store was forcibly closed, videos posted on social-media appear to show. One clip shows security guards trying to block the doors but dozens of shoppers manage to push past them and run off.
Another clip posted on social-media shows an announcement was made in-store saying authorities had asked for it to be shut immediately and to prevent people from coming in or leaving, per Bloomberg.
Bloomberg reported that the people who didn't make it out of the store had to stay there from 8 p.m. until after midnight. They were then sent to quarantine hotels, according to a shopper who posted about her experience on Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok.
Shanghai's health authorities found that a shopper who had been in close contact with a six-year-old boy infected with COVID-19 had visited the store, prompting them to introduce "temporary control measures," according to Bloomberg.
Zhao Dandan, the Shanghai Health Commission's deputy director, said in a briefing Sunday that everyone in the store and affected areas were to quarantine for two days, and undergo five days of health surveillance, per Bloomberg.
Ikea told Bloomberg in a statement the store in Shanghai Xuhui was temporarily closed on August 14 and 15 in response to COVID-19 outbreak guidelines, and would reopen Tuesday.
Ikea didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The news comes after Shanghai ended its two-month lockdown, designed to combat rising Omicron cases, in line with China's zero-COVID strategy. It led to the closure of stores and factories and backlogs at ports.
In early August, Shanghai had seven consecutive days of zero cases, but the streak ended on Thursday when there were seven cases recorded, per Bloomberg.
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