“It’s as if the Berlin Wall had fallen”: Shanghai returned to life on Wednesday with the relaxation of many anti-COVID-19 restrictions, after two months of grueling confinement for its 25 million inhabitants.
China’s economic capital, the country’s most cosmopolitan city, was locked down in stages from the end of March, in response to a nationwide outbreak, the most virulent since 2020. After already easing several restrictions in recent weeks, the authorities allow since Wednesday the inhabitants of zones considered to be at “low risk” to move freely in the city.
“We all feel like we’ve all experienced a great collective trauma,” Grace Guan, a 35-year-old Shanghainese, told AFP. She says she went out at midnight in the streets, where several people were celebrating the beer in hand event. “It’s as if the Berlin Wall had fallen,” she said.
Workers proceeded on Wednesday to dismantle the high yellow barriers that surrounded the buildings. And onlookers, masked, took advantage of their first steps of freedom. The famous historic Bund, located along the Huangpu River, which runs through the city, came alive with locals taking photos of themselves in front of the iconic skyscraper landscape on the other side.
It’s like the Berlin Wall has come down
“This is the moment we have been waiting for for a long time,” Shanghai City Hall posted on social media.
Residents flocked to metro stations and buses, which were once again operational, and others chatted in city parks, sometimes forming small groups.
“For two months, the only thing you had to worry about was buying food. So today, I want to treat myself and buy clothes,” Annie Xu, a 33-year-old Shanghainese girl I met in a luxury boutique, told AFP.
Shopping malls, convenience stores and beauty salons, however, can only operate at 75% capacity. Parks and tourist sites are only gradually reopening. Sports halls and cinemas remain closed, and the reopening of schools will be done on a case-by-case basis. Wearing a mask remains compulsory.
But travel by taxi or private car is allowed in low-risk areas.
The authorities, however, issued a warning: the full return to normal is not for now, and more than half a million people remain subject to restrictions. “It is appropriate for the time being not to lower our guard, in order to consolidate our achievements in the prevention and control of the epidemic”, they underlined.
Economic concerns
China continues to implement a zero-COVID health strategy, which includes imposing quarantines and lockdowns as soon as a few cases appear. This policy prevented many deaths, but dealt a severe blow to businesses. Shanghai City Hall conceded “that accelerating economic and social recovery is now increasingly urgent”.
Because if many factories and businesses can reopen, some remain closed. “Of course I have some fears. But all of that is beyond us. […] You can’t plan anything with an epidemic,” cafe owner Chen Ribin told AFP. “Who knows if it will not come back in July or August? […] I think it will take us two, three months to get back to the level of activity we had before…”
We have the impression that we have all experienced a great collective trauma
The Ministry of Health reported on Wednesday the detection of only 15 new positive cases in Shanghai over the past 24 hours – compared to more than 25,000 as of the end of April.
Restrictions had already been eased as the epidemic ebbed, but Shanghainese were generally only able to go out for a few hours a day at best – and provided they were in a neighborhood with no positive cases. Many residents were also exasperated by problems with the supply of fresh produce and access to non-COVID medical care.
The Shanghai lockdown is the second longest in China since the start of the pandemic. In 2020, that of Wuhan, the first city in the world affected by the epidemic, had lasted 76 days.