Brenda Goh, Hallie Gu

SHANGHAI/BEIJING – After more than a month in COVID lockdown Shanghai, some of Shanghai’s 25,000,000 people went out on Tuesday to go for a short walk and shop. China’s capital Beijing began another round of mass testing as part of a new effort to combat a rising outbreak.

Shanghai residents were photographed on social media posing for photos in their neighbourhoods or queuing at grocery stores that have been reopened. A picture of two women with heavy grocery bags and a pole was shown.

It was the result of a gradual easing in curbs at five of Shanghai’s 16 district starting Sunday. This is where about a fifth Shanghai’s residents live. In some cases, people were allowed out of their houses for the first week in weeks.

Each residential compound had different restrictions. One person per household can only go outside for three hours in many complexes.

Most people do not have the permission to drive, or ride a motorcycle. This prompts jokes and quips on social media.

One WeChat page that was used for group orders during lockdowns listed a donkey valued at $13,450 ($88,888) and a delivery date after 365 year as an option to vehicle transport.

One resident said, “Please count me in to one of those donkey groups buys”, and added his comments to the post.

Eight is linked to prosperity in China.

China seems to be increasingly out of tune with many other countries who have reduced or eliminated coronavirus restriction significantly.

China is willing to pay a high economic price and has demanded great personal sacrifices by millions of people forced to remain isolated.

These people are often struggling with low incomes, difficult sourcing food, and delays in getting emergency medical care and other services. These have led to occasional outbursts in anger during a difficult year for President Xi Jinping who is widely believed to be securing a third, record-setting leadership term.

Chinese officials claim that their COVID policies are designed to save as many people as possible. This is a reference to the millions of deaths caused by COVID outside China.

The authorities have reported twenty new deaths from COVIDs in Shanghai on May 2. This makes China’s current total of 5,112 cases since the start of the pandemic.

CAPITAL TIGHTENS CURBS

Beijing has dozens upon dozens new cases every day during an outbreak that began in its second week. It is now relying on mass testing for the identification and isolation of infections to avoid a Shanghai-like lockdown.

Capital of 22 Million tightened COVID restrictions over five-day Labour Day holiday, which runs through Wednesday. This is traditionally the busiest period for tourism and restaurants.

Following the screening of last week’s three rounds, 12 of 16 Beijing districts will perform three additional rounds of COVID test between May 3rd-5.

Some apartment blocks and restaurants in the capital were shut down, while others were open for business. The majority of other locations were also closed and required visitors to pass a negative PCR.

Many residents were afraid they would be quarantined if discovered to have been within close proximity of COVID cases.

Since April 22nd, Beijing has seen a steady increase in daily infections. There were 62 cases detected by May 2.

Shanghai had 73 more cases than 58, which was a significant decrease after two consecutive days with zero cases.

To allow more COVID curbs to be relaxed, there must be zero cases within these areas.

($1 = 6.6080 renminbi)