Ryan Woo and Winni Zhang

BEIJING/SHANGHAI – Streets of Beijing were bustlier Monday because residents in two Beijing districts were allowed back to work. Meanwhile, Shanghai moved closer towards lifting its COVID-19 lockdown, which was placed on Wednesday. This is as China’s infection rate dropped.

China’s uncompromising policy of “zero COVID”, which aims to eradicate all forms of outbreaks, is unique among the major nations. The rest are trying to co-exist with this virus.

China is reporting new cases daily in the hundreds, while many Western nations report thousands each day.

China’s largest city is under lockdown because of the COVID restrictions. This has disrupted global supply chains as well as international trade.

There may soon be some relief.

Fangshan (and Shunyi) in Beijing were the last districts to implement work-fromhome rules. However, public transportation was mostly restored in these two districts, as well in Chaoyang which is the largest city.

Library, museum, theatre, and gyms in areas that had not seen any community COVID cases over seven days were permitted to reopen Sunday. Restaurant dining is still prohibited in the entire city.

Shanghai, China’s 25-million strong commercial center, will finally be freed from a two-month long lockdown starting Wednesday. However, there are still many questions about how and when it will happen.

Although businesses were informed they could resume business operations, most residents are not aware when they can move out of their homes. Much of the public transport system is still suspended and private vehicles cannot be driven on roads without approval.

One banker from a Shanghai-based foreign lender said that their logistics and human resources departments informed staff they were still uncertain if people could return to work Wednesday.

The banker stated, refusing to identify themselves: “Nothing’s clear. And the bank doesn’t know either.”

Shanghai officials announced that they would remove all “unreasonable conditions” for business to resume work starting Wednesday, and 50 policies to help the economy.

These measures include asking banks for loans to small and medium-sized businesses, accelerating the issuance of bonds and requesting that they renew them. They also seek to speed up approvals of real estate projects. To encourage auto use, the city will reduce certain passenger car purchase tax.

It was not clear which business restrictions would be lifted.

One social media user said, “Let’s talk only about resuming our work when we can freely go into and out of the housing compounds,” in response to a local media article regarding recent Shanghai measures.

‘SENSITIVITY’

While activity has shown some improvement from the April lows, it is still dependent upon COVID developments for any sustained rebound.

While Shanghai, Beijing, and other Chinese cities have made substantial progress in reducing daily caseloads, there is still uncertainty as Omicron’s highly transmissible variant can make comebacks.

The Zero COVID Strategy is a hallmark policy of President Xi Jinping. It is widely anticipated that he will secure a historic third term in the leadership.

The Chinese authorities recently increased the pressure on this strategy and claimed it was saving lives.

Goldman Sachs’ (NYSE:) economists claimed that China’s Zero COVID policy could be discussed in one meeting of over 10 with Beijing clients. “Possibly due to China’s political sensitiveness.”

China must avoid another Shanghai lockdown. This is especially true in major cities and industrial centers. Authorities hope that mass testing would enable them to spot outbreaks early.

China wants COVID testing facilities to be within 15 minutes of all its major cities.

According to analysts, the Chinese government could spend as much as $52 Billion this year for testing, medical equipment, and monitoring devices. These measures will be beneficial to as many as 3000 companies.

Shanghai saw fewer than 100 cases of COVID in May, while Beijing had 12. China has reported 184 more cases than 293.