Shanghai’s local government said that China’s largest city has reported 22 new domestically transmitted asymptomatic coronavirus cases.
Its local symptomatic cases rose to nine from six a day earlier according to health authorities who are closely monitoring the city’s situation.
It comes after Shanghai ended the coronavirus lockdown and lifted restrictions to ease the frustration about the “zero-COVID” strategy on its population.
They were welcomed by a weary populace and struggling shopkeepers eager for life to return to normal.
Allowing malls and shops to reopen and people in “low-risk” areas to return to work, Shanghai will move into a normalised epidemic-control phase from Wednesday.
In an authoritarian country where people think twice about speaking out publicly because of possible repercussions, some had resisted and staged protests at apartment complexes and university dormitories.
Vice mayor Zong Ming told an online press conference railways will also resume normal operations and the number of domestic flights to the city will increase.
Shanghai is not the only city in China that recorded new cases. The country’s capital, Beijing, also reported 16 new domestically transmitted symptomatic coronavirus cases.
A day earlier it had reported 8 cases which means the outbreak is still spreading despite safety checks to curb them.
Under a system that readily punishes them for lax enforcement if outbreaks flare-up or come back, officials tend to err on the side of caution.
Highlighting that sporadic cases are still being found in some districts, but they are within a controllable range, Xu Hejian, a city spokesperson said “This round of outbreak has been put under effective control.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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