Roxanne Liu, Emily Chow

SHANGHAI/BEIJING – Shanghai has announced further steps to return to normal and lifted a COVID-19 lockdown of two months. Meanwhile, Beijing reopened some public transportation, malls, and gyms as the infection stabilised.

This Wednesday will mark the end of the Chinese commercial hub that is 25 million strong. It was a lockdown that had severely affected Shanghai’s economy, causing many Shanghai residents to lose their jobs and find it hard to source food.

Coronavirus is a serious disease that can be fatal in China. However, the trend in other parts of the globe shows that it has been co-existing in large cities.

Shanghai, China’s biggest city, will allow people to access public areas without having to pass a test starting Wednesday, according to Yin Xin (city government spokesperson). These tweaks are expected encourage work resumption.

“The epidemic situation currently in the city continues its stabilization and improvement,” Yin added, adding Shanghai’s strategy now was to “pivot towards normalised prevention & control.”

If you are going to enter public spaces or take public transportation, you will be required to have a negative PCR result within 72 hours.

Officials said that buses within Pudong New Area will be fully restored by Monday. It is the home of Shanghai’s biggest airport as well as the principal financial district.

Plaza 66 is a prestigious shopping center in Shanghai’s central area that now hosts Louis Vuitton as well as other luxury brands.

With a renewed focus on manufacturing, authorities are slowly easing curbs.

Although more people are allowed to move out of their homes and businesses have been permitted to reopen their doors, many residents still remain in their houses and some shops can only deliver to them.

State-run Shanghai Securities News reports that 240 of the city’s financial institutions were approved by authorities for reopening on Wednesday. This is in addition to the 864 companies released earlier in this month. These are just a few of Shanghai’s 1,700 financial companies.

On Saturday, the newspaper reported that more than 10,000 traders and bankers had returned home to their homes after the lockdown began.

Shanghai already allows key life science, semiconductor, and auto manufacturers to start production again since April.

GYMS and LIBRARIES

Library, museum, theatres, gyms, and museums in Beijing have been allowed to reopen for business on Sunday. However, there are restrictions on how many people can be present in areas that have not seen any COVID cases within seven days.

Fangshan, Shunyi, and Chaoyang are the first to end the work-from home rules. However, public transport is expected to resume in both of these districts, as well as Chaoyang which is the largest. However, restaurants are still banned in all of the cities.

Shanghai recorded just above 100 cases of COVID every day, and Beijing had 21. This is in line with a general downtrend.

China’s economy is showing signs of recovery after April’s slump. However, activity levels have declined since last year. Analysts expect an increase in second quarter contraction.

Any recovery’s strength and viability will be heavily dependent on COVID. The highly transmissible Omicron Omicron variant is difficult to eradicate and susceptible to comebacks.

Investors were concerned by the inability to develop a strategy for ending President Xi Jinping’s zero-COVID policy, where all diseases are eliminated at every cost. In the fall, he will be able to win a record-breaking third term of leadership at the congresses of the ruling Communist Party.

The markets expect greater economic policy support.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE) analysts said in a Friday report that “We expect policy to ease further on fiscal front to boost demand” given downward pressures for growth and uncertainty about the recovery pace.