Shanghai is clean of COVID-19 in the community after 1.5 and a half months of blockade

“All 16 districts of Shanghai have reached the ‘No COVID’ goal in the community”deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission Zhao Dandan said at a press conference on May 17.

This means that all of the more than 1,000 infections that Shanghai reported on May 17 are isolated cases.

Last weekend, Shanghai Vice Mayor Chen Tong said the city would gradually reopen businesses from this week.

Accordingly, from May 16, supermarkets, convenience stores and pharmacies can reopen and from June 1, normal life will be restored. The city also plans to gradually increase domestic flights and rail services.

However, as of May 17, millions of Shanghai residents were still unable to leave their residential areas.

According to official figures, more than 3.8 million people are still living under the city’s strict blockade order.

On Chinese social media, many people still expressed doubts about the official’s statement. They believe that easing the blockade can hardly happen overnight.

“How come after reaching ‘No COVID-19’, people in Songjiang district are still only allowed to go out once every two days? Is there a parallel universe in Shanghai?“, one Weibo account commented.

Video posted by Chinese media on May 17 shows crowds gathering at Hongqiao station as train services leaving the city reopen.

People are only allowed to leave Shanghai after getting permission from the authorities and taking multiple tests for COVID-19.

Shanghai began a city-wide blockade in early April in an effort to cut the chain of transmission after recording many cases of Omicron mutant infection.

Similar to Shanghai, many other Chinese cities are also imposing a “lockdown” order to prevent the epidemic from spreading.

While most countries around the world are learning to live with COVID-19, China has shown no sign so far that it will abandon its strict “No COVID-19” strategy.

Beijing is rolling out mass testing for people after the number of cases spiked.

Millions of people in the Chinese capital are asked to work from home. Transport services in the city were also suspended, causing many to fear that the scenario of shortage of necessities like Shanghai would repeat.