SHANGHAI: Shanghai declared “zero-Covid” across all of its districts on Tuesday, provoking mockery on social media as millions of people in China’s largest city remained in lockdown.

Faced with its worst outbreak since the outbreak began, China — the last major economy remaining locked to the rest of the world — imposed severe restrictions on the city of 25 million people in early April.

Shanghai citizens are unhappy over the government’s determination on putting an end to the Omicron variant-driven outbreak, which has sparked unusual rallies and angry scuffles with authorities.

“At the community level, all 16 districts of Shanghai have reached zero-Covid,” Shanghai health commission official Zhao Dandan told reporters on Tuesday.

According to local officials, none of the roughly 1,000 new cases reported on Tuesday were identified outside of confined regions.

Vice mayor Chen Tong said on Sunday that the city would begin reopening businesses this week, but he would not elaborate.

On Tuesday, though, millions of Shanghai residents were still unable to leave their homes.

According to official data, more than 3.8 million people in the city were still under the harshest forms of lockdown.

China’s plan includes stringent border closures, long quarantines, mass testing, and targeted lockdowns.

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The disparity between official assertions and the reality of living under a long-term lockdown erupted in outrage on social media.

“Why are residents in Songjiang district still only permitted to go out once every two days, even when society has reached Covid-zero?” a blogger on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, inquired.

Another inquired, “Is this a parallel universe Shanghai?”

Restrictions have been gradually tightened in various parts of the city in recent days.

On Tuesday, Chinese media streamed live video of throngs forming at Shanghai’s Hongqiao Railway Station as train services to the city resumed.

Only after gaining permission and passing many Covid tests are people allowed to leave Shanghai.

Despite the escalating economic implications of poor retail, housing, and auto sales, and rising unemployment, China has showed no sign of giving up its long-running battle to maintain zero Covid cases.

After a surge in cases — numbering in the hundreds each day but still enough to trigger tight restrictions on movement and association — Beijing is mass testing residents practically every day.

Fearing a recurrence of Shanghai’s shutdown pandemonium, millions of people in the capital have been told to work from home and public transportation has been suspended.