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After two years of mostly COVID-free existence, Shanghai — China’s biggest and most modern metropolis — has ground to a screeching halt. What’s absolutely stunning to me as a long-term foreign resident of the city is how much harsher the restrictions are compared with those put in place to tackle the original outbreak back in 2020.

When the original outbreak first reached the city from Wuhan, central China, our “lockdown” was barely that. You could leave your apartment whenever you wanted and head to the grocery store, go for a walk or even take the subway into town. Malls, restaurants, movie theaters, bars, clubs were all shuttered, but you could move freely. People didn’t, though — because in January 2020 even the experts didn’t know what they were dealing with. So folks stayed home out of a genuine fear. There was no need to force anyone to stay grounded. People only went out to get essentials. It was a weird time, but it was brought under control in China reasonably quickly, and we were back in the office after barely a month.

This time around, what is going on is just utterly unbelievable. Despite high vaccination rates and a weaker variant of the virus at large, the restrictions are way tougher this time. I’ve been locked in my apartment with my wife and kid for more than a month, and I have had to take more than 20 COVID tests during this time. Government health workers appear in white suits every other day, and neighborhood wardens use megaphones to summon everyone outside to take their tests.

There’s more than 1,000 people living in my complex — and everyone complies. Chinese people in general are pretty obedient. Privately, many Chinese friends tell me they don’t like the procedure and lockdown but believe going along with it is the quickest way back to normality.

Almost all apartments in Shanghai are in gated compounds, so it’s pretty easy to keep people corralled as there are walls all around. I used to think this was a good thing in general as it was secure — until I saw the huge steel mesh wire fence being bolted into the ground in front of the entrance at the beginning of lockdown, physically sealing us in. Talk about a sense of foreboding. Now we can’t even get outside except for COVID tests or to pick up food deliveries, which are passed up over the fence. That’s if food arrives. Things have eased off this week, but last week we had serious problems ordering food online and were surviving on government handouts. The lockdown meant most delivery drivers weren’t working. So there was plenty of food, but we couldn’t get our hands on it.

We weren’t alone: My social media were full of angry, sad and bewildered Chinese friends asking where their next meal would come from. In one of the most modern connected cities in the world used to being able to order anything online and have it turn up on their doorstep soon after, this was nothing short of traumatic.

Seeing open criticism of the government was also quite stunning as it’s something that just never happens. It all added up to a surreal atmosphere. There’s also fear this time around — not of the virus itself but of testing positive. If you do, you’ll be taken away to a makeshift “hospital” where the lights may be on 24/7 and there are no showers. You’ll be isolated from the outside world and not let out until you test negative four or five times. Understandably, nobody wants to end up in one of these places, and there’s been more than a few viral videos passed around of people being dragged kicking and screaming from their apartments.

So why is China locking down its biggest city and financial and business capital? It’s politics. The government says it is doing it to protect elderly people who for whatever reason are not yet vaccinated.

But it prompts the question: Why can’t a city that can test 26 million people in one day not get around to vaccinating everyone who needs it after nearly 18 months of having a vaccine that may not be the best but is shown to prevent death and serious illness? This year, Xi Jinping is seeking a record-breaking (literally, as Chinese presidents are supposed to be limited to 10 years in power) extra five years. For him, COVID-zero is a surefire way to demonstrate not only his own success but how the Chinese system is superior to the West.

Before Omicron, his plan was going along well, in fact too well. The Chinese basked in their hard-won success against previous variants and got complacent — thinking they could keep COVID at bay indefinitely and use it as a convenient stick to beat the West with. However, Omicron’s amazing infectiousness means that it’s broken through in Shanghai, and the government is in panic mode.

A lockdown of the city is the end result, and absolutely nothing can be allowed to stand in the way of Xi Jinping’s quest to be president for life. William Forbes is a pseudonym, for fear of reprisals to him and his family in China, where he has lived for more than a decade.