With over 25 million inhabitants, Shanghai is one of the world's largest cities, a global financial centre and a glittering monument to China’s economic boom.
But, today, the vibrant megacity has been reduced to a ghost town. A recent surge of the omicron variant has collided with China’s zero-Covid policy, and Shanghai has borne the brunt of the impact.
The situation stands in stark contrast to that of Ireland. While Covid has not gone away here, the degree to which it is impacting our day-to-day lives has diminished to almost nothing.
Public health measures have been removed. The lockdown era is over. In Shanghai, what started with a vague notice of a lockdown that would last several days has now stretched on for over a month.