Covid-19 pandemic: Shanghai's locked down elite join grocery hunt

Even the wealthy are struggling to buy food as Shanghai’s lockdown drags on. Kathy Xu, one of China’s top venture capitalists and an investor in grocery businesses including Meituan, Yonghui Superstores and DingDong Maicai, is struggling to get bread and milk, online media group Sohu reported, citing a screenshot of a WeChat message that was circulating on social media. 

“Could any neighbor add me to the bread chat? We have multiple family members in need of bread and milk,” Xu wrote in the group for her housing compound, according to the screenshot. 

Capital Today, the company she founded and which manages $2.5 billion, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Watch more on how locked down Shanghai residents are scrambling for food. The circulation of Xu’s post reflects that food shortages are hitting the city’s high-earners after middle-class residents have been struggling for weeks. BLOOMBERG

Xi defends zero-Covid policy

Defending his country's stringently implemented zero-Covid policy amid a huge surge of coronavirus cases in Shanghai and other cities, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China's targeted and effective Covid-19 control measures ensured the safe and smooth hosting of Winter Olympics. 

“We have put first the health of all participants, adhered to the policy of preventing the coronavirus from re-entering the country to cause a new epidemic, and strictly implemented the prevention and control measures,” Xi said. AP/PTI