By Brenda Goh

SHANGHAI/BEIJING – On Thursday, more Shanghai residents were allowed to shop at grocery stores for the first time since nearly two months. Authorities have further plans to lift the COVID-19 lockdown that covers the entire city.

A commercial hub that has 25 million inhabitants recorded no new infection outside of quarantined zones for the fifth consecutive day. It further cements its “zero-COVID” status.

Zhong Renqiu, a shopkeeper said: “I feel very content. The lifting of the lockdown has started.” Carrefour (EPA) Supermarket in central Changning District that just reopened.

Zhong said that they had mainly relied upon government provision and group-buys. He was buying eggs, gojiberries and black sesame.

Officials are concerned about the possibility of new outbreaks in their highly-staked effort to slowly reopen. They plan to keep residents mostly indoors and prioritize work and production over all other activities.

Zhang Wei, Deputy Mayor of Shanghai, stated that economic activity was recovering and businesses were able to continue to work with the workers on-site. Authorities would also allow for more normal operations to be resumed from June 1.

He stated that the city “strive to resume full production and work as quickly as possible.”

According to him, “the rhythm of work resume” will be determined by COVID. He also stated that on-site restrictions for May would continue.

A few housing developments in Changning issued passes Thursday to allow residents to access the Carrefour stores.

One person per household could use their passes to enter the shop and make a purchase of up to 500 Yuan ($74). Residents were instructed to ride their bicycles or walk to the shop, and to line up at the two-metre mark.

Some shoppers were wearing protective gowns. Others wore gloves and face shields.

Another positive sign is that four of the 18 lines in the metro will resume operation on Sunday.

Shanghai saw fewer than 800 reported cases. There were no new cases from areas outside of quarantined zones, which was the fifth consecutive report.

Beijing’s capital hasn’t imposed a complete city shutdown, but it has tightened its restrictions gradually over the last month in order to control a tiny but constant outbreak of about a dozen infections per day. The May 18th report showed 55 cases, a decrease of 69.

SIGNS of LIFE

Zhang, the Deputy Mayor of Shanghai said that Shanghai was slowly returning to normal and daily container traffic at its ports is at 90%.

According to him, Pudong Airport’s cargo throughput reached 70% last year, and the number of freight vehicles arriving in the city has returned to the two-thirds mark.

The democratically ruled island’s economic minister stated that roughly half the Taiwanese businesses who had been forced to suspend work in China by COVID were now producing again.

Data showed that retail vehicle sales increased 27% from April to May, another indicator of China’s improvement in manufacturing.

They were down by 21% from one year ago.

Although not as severe and extensive as April’s COVID curbs, May still had a significant impact on growth.

Goldman Sachs’ (NYSE:) Wednesday reduction in China’s economic growth for 2022 to 4% was well below its official target of around 5.5%. It warned that the forecast could fall further.

China’s zero COVID policy has put hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens in cities that are subject to various restrictions. It disrupted global manufacturing, and companies such as Apple (NASDAQ) and Tesla(NASDAQ:), and Starbucks (NASDAQ) and Walmart.

In its most recent update of a global index of supply issues, the New York Federal Reserve stated that in April air freight prices between America and Asia increased and international delivery times grew.

This could result in persistent inflation worldwide and increasing borrowing costs.

Burberry, a British luxury brand, stated Wednesday that its future depended upon how fast China recovers from its lockdowns.

($1 = 6.7582 renminbi)