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 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 six million people worldwide.

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

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