At least 8 million boxes of Lianhua Qingwen capsules have been sent to Shanghai in its battle against the Omicron variant, at the same time as many of its 25 million people are struggling to find fresh vegetables, rice and masks, South China Morning Post reported.

“Dispatching of Covid medicines should follow rigorous tests and examinations. No fake and shoddy products should be given to the public,” Rao Yi, president of Capital Medical University in Beijing, said in a post on social media platform WeChat as quoted by the newspaper.

As COVID-19 cases continue to surge in Shanghai city, authorities have said they will tighten the enforcement of lockdown measures.

New measures include placing electronic door alarms to prevent those infected from leaving, as well as evacuating people to disinfect their homes, BBC reported.

Hundreds of people were forcibly  evacuated from their homes this week to allow their buildings to be disinfected.

With the current restrictions, lockdown in the city will now enter its fifth week.

Shanghai city officials told BBC all infected patients and close contacts will be transferred to government-run centralised quarantine.