Shanghai authorities reiterated that they would take some major steps to reopen the city on Wednesday after a two-month Covid-19 lockdown stifled the national economy and greatly restricted millions of people from staying home in the busiest city.
Full bus and subway services will be restored, as well as basic rail links to the rest of China, according to what Vice Mayor Zong Ming stated at a daily news conference on the city’s outbreak on Tuesday. “The epidemic is under effective control,” he said, adding that the city will begin the process of a full return to work and life on Wednesday.
Schools will partially reopen on a voluntary basis by students, and shopping malls, supermarkets, convenience stores, and pharmacies will continue to gradually reopen to no more than 75% full capacity. For now, all movie theaters alongside gyms shall remain closed until further notice.
Officials have set a June 1 deadline for reopening in early May, and appear poised to accelerate the gradual easing in recent days. Some malls and markets have reopened, and some residents have been given passes that allow them to go out for a few hours at a time. In the online chat group, some expressed excitement at the prospect of being able to move freely in the city for the first time since late March, while others were wary of the slow pace and intermittent nature of the opening, until now.
Workers are removing some of the barriers erected along the sidewalks during the closure. Some walked or cycled through the still-empty streets. A worker or volunteer in a protective suit watched a man get a haircut on the sidewalk. More than 500,000 people in the city of 25 million people will be banned from leaving their homes on Wednesday: 190,000 of them remain in lockdown and another 450,000 in confinement due to recent cases.
Recently, Shanghai recorded a total new case count of 29, which marks a steady rate of decline since April. Li Qiang, the top official of Shanghai’s ruling Communist Party of China, told a meeting on Monday that Shanghai has made significant achievements in fighting the epidemic through continuous fighting.
Success has a price. Authorities imposed a suffocating lockdown across the city under China’s “zero Covid-19” strategy, which aims to contain any outbreak through mass testing and centralized facilities to isolate anyone infected. However, the latest economic data showed that Chinese manufacturing activity started to pick up in May as the government lifted some containment measures.
Schools will reopen for the last two years of high school and the third year of middle school, but students can decide whether to attend school in person. Other grades and kindergartens remain closed.
Outdoor tourist attractions will start to reopen on Wednesday, while indoor attractions will open in late June, the Shanghai Tourism Bureau said. After all high- and medium-risk epidemic areas in the city are cleared, group travel from other provinces will be allowed again.
On Tuesday, the Chinese capital Beijing further eased restrictions in some areas. The city has imposed limited but not citywide levels of lockdowns, and the outbreak, which is much smaller, appears to be abating. Beijing recorded 18 new cases on Monday.
