Status: 04/20/2022 10:52 a.m
At the end of March, the 25 million metropolis of Shanghai was strictly sealed off. Now the authorities are carefully relaxing the isolation: another four million citizens are now allowed to leave their homes again.
The authorities in the Chinese financial metropolis of Shanghai have relaxed the strict corona restrictions for a further four million people. The health authorities said they were allowed to leave their apartments and houses.
The virus is effectively under control in parts of the city for the first time, official Wu Ganyu said. A total of twelve million people would no longer have to stay in quarantine at home.
At the same time, the authorities confirmed another seven corona deaths and more than 18,902 new infections. Of the people who tested positive, only 2,495 showed symptoms of the disease.
Factories resume work
Some factories resumed operations, including US carmaker Tesla on Tuesday, state media reported. The “Gigafactory” in Shanghai had been idle for more than 20 days.
At the end of March, the authorities quarantined almost all 25 million inhabitants of China’s largest city because the number of new infections was skyrocketing.
Although this is quite low compared to other countries, the communist leadership is pursuing a so-called zero-Covid strategy, in which everyone infected is isolated. This leads to the lockdown of entire cities.
In Shanghai, residents complained that they did not have enough access to food and medicine under quarantine. Even now, the reopening of shops is still sluggish.
Strict isolation policy
Those who tested positive for the virus were sent to quarantine centers set up in exhibition halls and other public buildings. This also applied to people without symptoms of illness.
In the meantime, the lockdown had been extended indefinitely by the authorities. There was strong criticism of the strict measures, including from the local population.
In the current corona wave, Shanghai has officially confirmed 17 deaths so far. However, some have questioned this figure, citing the low vaccination rate in the large older population.