Shanghai authorities have begun dismantling fences around housing complexes and ripping off police tape from squares and public buildings before a painful two-month blockade is lifted at midnight.
Key points:
- Shanghai is removing lock fences and police tape before the end of midnight restrictions
- The two-month confinement has caused great financial stress for many residents
- Many are still wary of taking COVID and risking another confinement
On Monday evening, some of the people allowed to leave their premises for short walks took advantage of the suspended traffic to gather for a beer and ice cream on the deserted streets, but there was a feeling of suspicion and anxiety among the residents. .
“I feel a little nervous,” said Joseph Mak, who works in education.
“It’s hard to believe it’s really happening.”
Some took advantage of the empty streets before the end of confinement restrictions. (Reuters: Aly Song)
Most will be back indoors until midnight, as they have been for the past two months, under a relentless blockade that has resulted in loss of income, stress and despair for millions of people struggling to access food. or receive emergency health care.
Prolonged isolation has fueled public outrage and rare protests among Shanghai’s 25 million residents and affected the city’s manufacturing and export economy, disrupting supply chains in China and around the world and slowing it down. international trade.
Life is expected to return to normal from Wednesday, when season tickets issued by residential buildings are discarded so that people can leave for a few hours, public transport will resume and residents can return to work.
“This is a day we have been dreaming of for a long time,” said Shanghai government spokeswoman Yin Xin.
Ms. Yin said that daily online press conferences will be interrupted as her colleagues, who have lived on the site for the past two months, as required by COVID rules, will return home after the meeting. midnight.
“Everyone has sacrificed a lot,” Ms. Yin said.
“This day has been very successful, and we must appreciate and protect it and welcome the Shanghai we know and miss.”
Next to a stream in Shanghai on Tuesday, a marinated goose shop was refilling shelves, a bar was making last-minute renovations, and cleaners were cleaning shop windows.
Workers dismantle barriers in a residential area toward the end of the blockade. (Reuters: Aly Song)
Residents will be required to take a COVID-19 test every 72 hours to take public transportation and enter public places.
There is still a tough quarantine for all those facing COVID-19 and their close contacts.
Careful confinement
China is the only one of the major countries to implement a “zero COVID” policy to eradicate outbreaks at almost any cost.
The highly transmissible Omicron variant is prone to return.
Julian MacCormac, president of the British House of Representatives in China, said Shanghai controlled COVID at a “very significant personal and financial cost”.
“What has changed materially so that this does not happen again?” he asked.
“That’s where the uncertainty lies.”
Todd Pearson, CEO of Camel Hospitality Group, which runs some restaurants, bars and gyms in and around Shanghai, is suspicious.
Their restaurants can only make deliveries, which provide about 5 percent of revenue, not enough to pay salaries and rent.
But as of midnight, its workers who have slept on site can finally return home.
“I hope they speed things up to restart the economy,” Pearson said.
“I just hope it’s not at the expense of more outbreaks. I’m not sure many companies or people can handle much more.”
Economic activity in China has recovered somewhat in May from a sad April, as COVID’s braking at major manufacturing centers gradually eased, although movement controls still slowed. demand and restricted production.
Fun with flags
Shanghai reported 31 cases on May 30, down from 67 the day before, reflecting a downward trend across China to less than 200 infections nationwide, a fraction of what most countries are reporting.
The end of the Shanghai confinement does not mean a return to pre-COVID life forms.
Some bank employees said they will have to wear suits full of hazardous material and face protection when they start facing the public starting Wednesday.
Financial sector workers say they will wear masks after confinement restrictions are lifted. (Reuters: Aly Song)
An employee said he would bring some basic supplies to work with in case a colleague tested positive and staff had to isolate themselves in the office.
The confinement has fueled rare protests, with people sometimes knocking pots and pans out of their windows to show their displeasure with strict measures, and many sharing frustrating interactions with authorities on social media.
Public displays of resentment come during a sensitive year for President Xi Jinping, who is expected to run for a third term this fall.
A compound hung a Chinese flag for residents to take pictures while queuing for a PCR test before reopening.
Shanghai residents expect this to be the end of COVID testing and other restrictions when the blockade is lifted at midnight. (Reuters: Aly Song)
“It’s worth celebrating,” said a volunteer at the test site, who was more optimistic about COVID than those who rubbed their noses.
“We probably won’t have it again in the rest of our lives.”
Reuters
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