Sharjah24 - Reuters: An uncompromising response to a spike in local COVID-19 cases in the Chinese financial hub of Shanghai is testing the resolve of residents, with a wave of school closures and other draconian measures causing disruptions throughout the city.

China's health authority said another 76 asymptomatic local infections were found in Shanghai on Wednesday, and authorities have been sealing off schools, residential compounds and office blocks as part of a "dynamic clearance" approach aimed at shutting down each new transmission route as soon as it arises.

China has insisted its "zero-COVID" strategy is cost-effective and saves lives, even as other countries seek to coexist with a virus that has killed 6 million people worldwide.

But there are signs that after more than two years of battling the pandemic, the public is starting to bristle.

One resident, surnamed Yan, has been quarantined in Shanghai University for a week after several cases were recorded there.

"I didn't expect the situation to get so bad so I only took a little stuff for daily use with me," he said. "I thought the quarantine would last just one day or so."