In an attempt to contain and track the spread of COVID-19, China has set up temporary walls to divide and limit interactions in neighborhoods around various provinces.

Some neighborhoods have blue metal sheets, while others are yellow and grey. They are all designed to limit the entry and exit of neighborhoods. But despite the government’s strategy to prevent further spreading, cases continue to rise as do the number of deaths. As of Monday China has over 80,700 confirmed cases of the virus and just over 3,000 deaths.

Even with the walls in place, residents largely interact with outside neighborhoods and people through the delivery of groceries and other goods. Items are exchanged through designated windows through the makeshift walls with both parties always in protective masks. But there are visible gaps in walls that people can easily squeeze through. It wouldn’t take much for a sneeze or a cough to travel through those gaps as well.

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Life has halted in many aspects from the coronavirus. Small businesses are feeling the hit, schools are closed, the stock market is fragile and global travel has been largely suspended. Even within China, cities like Beijing have banned intercity travel. The city instated new guidelines that emphasize that anyone traveling into Beijing from other cities must quarantine themselves for 14 days, according to the Wall Street Journal.

However, recent data suggests that the coronavirus spread has slowed down in China, suggesting that containment is possible. “We scrutinized this data and we believe this decline is real,” said the World Health Organization’s outbreak expert Maria Van Kerkhove.

Widespread quarantines and lockdowns, though aggressive, may have helped contain the virus from spreading further. But experts say that these drastic measures may come at large costs with social disruption and stigmatization, as well as a major hit to the global economy.