The situations in HK and Xinjiang show how the lockdowns work as a tool of state oppression:

"Some residents... were forced by authorities to take Chinese medicine daily, and were required to film themselves doing so."

"One video showed dozens of high-rise residents in Urumqi yelling from their windows in despair."

“I have even taken three nucleic acid tests ... but community workers won’t let me leave”

"Social media users shared photographs of front doors sealed with steel crowbars, and locks installed by community workers."

Who needs detention centers when you can just lock people up in their highrise apartments?