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Residential area in Shanghai: strict lockdown for two months
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ALY SONG / REUTERS
After months of restrictions and lockdowns, the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai did not register any new infections with Sars-CoV-2 on Saturday for the first time.
"There were no new local Covid-19 cases and no new asymptomatic infections," said the city administration.
The capital Beijing counted two new infections on Saturday.
The local education authority announced that all elementary and middle schools are to be reopened on Monday.
Employees, school children and parents would have to do a PCR test beforehand and should not go out and avoid gatherings, it said.
The schools were closed in early May and should have reopened in mid-June.
However, that was postponed after a single bar visitor in Beijing caused a corona outbreak.
China has been pursuing a strict “zero Covid strategy” since the beginning of the pandemic.
However, with the advent of the fast-spreading omicron variant, large outbreaks kept occurring.
The center was initially the economic metropolis of Shanghai, which was rigorously sealed off at the beginning of April.
Because of the draconian corona policy, many people suffered loss of income because they could no longer go to work.
Grocery shopping and access to medical care have also been made more difficult for millions of Shanghai residents.
There were protests against this.
The effects of the controversial and sometimes chaotic lockdown had also been felt around the world.
Container ships could not be loaded and unloaded in the port, which had a massive impact on supply chains.
This also led to problems in Germany (read more about this here).
At the beginning of June, the measures were relaxed again for most residents of Shanghai.
Authorities began dismantling fences around apartment buildings and removing police tape from public spaces and buildings.
However, some neighborhoods were sealed off again after corona cases occurred there.
There should be regular PCR mass tests among the approximately 25 million inhabitants by at least the end of July.
lov/AFP/Reuters
