For the first time in weeks, the Chinese economic metropolis of Shanghai claims to have reached the “zero Covid” state on Tuesday. “All 16 districts of Shanghai have already achieved zero-Covid at the community level,” said a health official. According to the administration, this means that none of the more than 1000 new infections reported on Tuesday occurred outside of quarantined areas. Nevertheless, the strict lockdown in the city continues.
According to the authorities, more than 3.8 million residents of the city were still under the strictest lockdown on Tuesday. The contradiction between the announced “zero Covid” status and the continued restrictions on freedom immediately caused excitement on social networks. “If society has reached zero-Covid, why are people in Songjian district still only allowed to go outside every two days,” asked a user on the online service Weibo. “Is this a Shanghai in a parallel universe?” asked another sarcastically.
The city administration announced a gradual reopening of shops over the weekend, but did not give any details.
At the beginning of April, the authorities imposed drastic restrictions in Shanghai due to an outbreak of the omicron variant of the corona virus, which made it extremely difficult to supply the approximately 25 million residents with fresh food and had an impact on global supply chains. Due to the restrictions, there was great dissatisfaction among the population, which citizens expressed in online videos, among other things.
