Shanghai Prepares to Lift 2-Month Lockdown

'I could die' from happiness, resident says
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 31, 2022 2:28 PM CDT
After 2 Harsh Months, Shanghai Prepares to Lift Lockdown
A worker in protective gear watches a barber cuts a resident's hair Tuesday, May 31, 2022, in Shanghai, China.   (AP Photo/Chen Si)

Shanghai authorities say they will take major steps Wednesday toward reopening China's largest city after a two-month COVID-19 lockdown that has set back the national economy and largely confined millions of people to their homes. Already, a steady stream of people strolled in the Bund, the city's historic waterfront park, on a pleasant Tuesday night, some taking selfies against the bright lights of the Pudong financial district on the other side of the river, the AP reports. Elsewhere, people gathered outside to eat and drink under the watch of police deployed to discourage large crowds from forming.

Lu Kexin, a high school senior visiting the Bund for the first time since late March, said she went crazy being trapped at home for so long. "I’m very happy, extremely happy, all the way, too happy," she said. "I could die." Vice Mayor Zong Ming announced that full bus and subway service will be restored on Wednesday, as will basic rail connections with the rest of China. Schools will partially reopen on a voluntary basis, and shopping malls, supermarkets, convenience stores, and drug stores will reopen gradually at no more than 75% of their total capacity. Cinemas and gyms will remain closed.

"The epidemic has been effectively controlled," Zong said. More than half a million people in the city of 25 million won't be allowed out Wednesday—190,000 who are still in lockdown areas and another 450,000 who are in control zones because they live near recent cases. Shanghai recorded 29 new cases on Monday, continuing a steady decline from more than 20,000 a day in April. Beijing, the nation's capital, further eased restrictions Tuesday in some districts. The city imposed limited lockdowns, but nothing near a citywide level, in a much smaller outbreak that appears to be on the wane. Beijing recorded 18 new cases on Monday. (More Shanghai stories.)

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