Over 12m in lower-risk Shanghai areas allowed to leave homes
Chinese financial hub in lockdown cautiously lifts certain curbs in some residential areas
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SHANGHAI • As many as 12.38 million Shanghai residents, nearly half the population of China's financial hub, are now in lower-risk areas, meaning they can leave their homes, the government said yesterday.
Shanghai, battling China's biggest ever Covid-19 outbreak, put the entire city into lockdown at the start of the month, though it has cautiously lifted some restrictions on residential areas that have gone two weeks without a positive case.
The city classifies each housing unit according to three levels of risk, designating those that have not seen a Covid-19 positive case for 14 days as "prevention zones", allowing residents to go out for "appropriate" activities.
By Thursday, the number of people living in high-risk "sealed and controlled zones" - subject to the strictest lockdown measures - was 5.27 million, down by 6.6 million since the last readjustment on April 20.
Another 5.93 million residents from medium-risk areas are now allowed to leave their apartments but not their compounds.
The government said 52 people died of Covid-19 on Thursday, up from 47 a day earlier. Their average age was 84.
The city reported 9,545 new asymptomatic cases on Thursday, up from 9,330 a day earlier, with symptomatic cases surging to 5,487 from 1,292.
The coronavirus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 and for the next two years, the authorities managed to keep outbreaks largely under control with lockdowns and travel bans.
But this year, the fast-spreading Omicron variant has tested China's Covid-zero policy.
Meanwhile, companies reopening factories in locked-down Shanghai are booking hotel rooms to house workers and turning vacant workshops into on-site isolation facilities as the authorities urge them to resume work while complying with tough Covid-19 curbs.
Hundreds of firms including Tesla and 3M have reopened factories in Shanghai under local guidelines requiring them to isolate workers inside a "closed-loop". Without on-site living space, US-based 3M has been booking hotels for its factory workers, complying with closed-loop rules by transporting them between the plant and their lodgings.
5.27 million
Number of people in Shanghai living in high-risk "sealed and controlled zones", which are subject to the strictest lockdown measures, as at Thursday.
14
Number of days without a Covid-19 case in a Shanghai housing unit before it can be deemed a "prevention zone", which allows residents to go out for "appropriate" activities.
9,545
Number of new asymptomatic cases on Thursday, up from 9,330 a day earlier, with symptomatic cases surging to 5,487 from 1,292.
But finding rooms is difficult as many Shanghai hotels are already occupied by medical workers and others managing the city's massive effort to fight the pandemic.
Some vehicle makers, including General Motors, have asked workers to sleep on factory floors.
The Shanghai authorities said last week that about 70 per cent of the companies had restarted operations. Industrial output dropped 7.5 per cent last month, the first monthly decline in two years.
Getting workers back is also a multi-step process. Only those living in "low-risk" areas can be recalled. They must also test negative for Covid-19 to obtain a "work resumption" pass.
Multiple firms also require workers to isolate on company premises and test further under a two-to three-day "quiet period" before allowing entry to factories.
REUTERS
