Sharjah24 - Reuters: Millions of fenced-in Shanghai residents entered their fourth week of a nerve-wracking COVID-19 lockdown, while authorities said on Monday they were looking to shift to a targeted enforcement of rules in smaller zones around confirmed cases.

In Beijing, fearing a similar strict lockdown after the emergence of a few cases, many have begun stockpiling food, with long queues seen in the largest district Chaoyang for the first of three mandatory tests scheduled there this week.

While the virus so far seemed well contained in Beijing, authorities in Shanghai were trying to control the heightened frustration caused by the lockdown that has forced most of the city's 25 million people indoors.

At a daily news conference on Monday, Qi Keping, vice-head of Shanghai's northeastern commercial district of Yangpu, said authorities were looking to break down large areas into smaller ones for more targeted enforcement of rules.

"Every compound, every gate, every door must be strictly managed," Qi said, adding, however, that the new approach would "better achieve differentiated prevention".