Shanghai wrestles with food shortages under virus shutdown

By JOE McDONALD
AP Business Writer

BEIJING (AP) — Residents of Shanghai are struggling to get meat, rice and other food supplies under anti-coronavirus controls that confine most of its 25 million people to their homes. People in China’s business capital have grown frustrated over the government’s effort to contain a spreading outbreak, complaining that online grocers often are sold out. Some were given government food packages that lasted a few days, but anxiety is rising over when people can leave their homes. The complaints are an embarrassment for the ruling Communist Party during a politically sensitive year when President Xi Jinping is expected to try to break with tradition and award himself a third five-year term as leader.