Martin Quin Pollard and David Stanway

SHANGHAI/BEIJING – Shanghai’s health authorities are under immense pressure to stop COVID-19 spreading. Residents in Shanghai count down the days till June 1, when they will be free from the hated lockdown.

This commercial center of 25 million people achieved its fourth consecutive day of no new infections. It is keeping the “zero COVID” status intact and maintaining hope for an end to lockdown misery.

Authorities have not lifted the lockdown in any new cases. They are instead slowly easing the restrictions to June 1st, with shops being allowed to reopen this week. Public transport will partially resume on the weekend, although there has been no increase in crime.

Few people are able to get passes from their volunteer managers for going outside.

Zhao Dandan, a representative of the municipal healthcare commission said that the risk of positive infections in risk groups remains and the pressure to… prevent a rebound is still great.

Shanghai’s Xuhui District posted photos on social media of people planting flowers along with largely abandoned streets in order to create a clean and beautiful environment for “resumption work and production” within the city.

In Changning’s central area, however, there were large trash piles that were piled up onto the roads. It is an indication of the difficulties the city had in maintaining services during the lockdown.

America, Europe, and other countries have removed restrictions on “living with the virus” to help their economies grow even when infections are spreading.

China, however, has taken a radical alternative path. They have ruthlessly restricted movement and isolated people in order to stop any epidemic, regardless of the economic costs.

It has been a difficult task to defeat the transmissible Omicron variant, as Beijing’s struggle over the last month shows.

Beijing authorities are discovering new cases nearly every day since April 22nd.

Although most Beijingers work from their homes, many can still walk around the city, even though there are few shops and gyms that remain open.

“I’m happy that we are not confined at home like in Shanghai but still pretty frustrated at what’s happening, as most of the countries have already moved on from COVID,” said Lin Cong, 27, who lives in Chaoyang district, the epicentre of the outbreak.

“It’s difficult to watch when my friends in other countries are able to travel and move freely without a mask while you don’t know when you can live a normal life.”

LOSEING CONFIDENCE AND INCOME

Shanghai had fewer than 1000 new cases in May 17th. These cases were all reported in areas that have the most strict controls. No new cases were found in more liberal communities. Beijing had 69 reported cases, compared to 52.

China’s “zero COVID” policy, which is uncompromising in its approach to production, has put hundreds of millions of people in cities with different restrictions. This has disrupted the global recovery in all things from cell phones and electric cars.

Businesses from Apple (NASDAQ) to Tesla(NASDAQ:), have all taken a big hit.

JD (NASDAQ):.com, an ecommerce firm, reported better than expected revenue due to more shoppers shopping online because of the COVID curbs. But, JD was cautious about its outlook and said that customers are losing income and their confidence is being disrupted.

However, investors are still receptive to JD.com, and other peers, despite comments Vice Premier Liu made Tuesday at a meeting with executives in the tech sector, which encouraged hopes of a lessened regulatory crackdown.

This unprecedented crackdown began in the latter part of 2020 and has ravaged markets and hit Chinese tech companies. It has slashed billions in market value and affected an important growth driver.

But, the COVID headwinds China currently faces, including a decline in the property sector, geopolitics, rising interest costs, and rising debt levels, would be offset by a more flexible tech sector.

This week’s economic data showed that China’s April consumption and output dropped at an unprecedented pace since the early 2020s. The novel coronavirus was being spread worldwide, having been first identified in Wuhan in late 2019.

According to analysts, China may struggle to make a rapid recovery while not compromising its policy of “zero COVID.”