Shanghai allows 4 million more out of homes as COVID-19 controls ease

A total of almost 12 million people in the city of 25 million are allowed to go outdoors following the first round of easing last week, a health official said.

Shanghai allowed 4 million more people out of their homes Wednesday as anti-virus controls that shut down China‘s biggest city eased, while the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast of Chinese economic growth and warned the global flow of industrial goods might be disrupted.

A total of almost 12 million people in the city of 25 million are allowed to go outdoors following the first round of easing last week, health official Wu Ganyu said at a news conference. Wu said the virus was “under effective control” for the first time in some parts of the city.

Under the latest changes, more than 4 million people are included in areas where the status shifted from closed to controlled, said Wu. He said some are not allowed to leave their neighbourhoods and large gatherings are prohibited.

Meanwhile, the IMF reduced its forecast of Chinese growth this year to 4.4 per cent from 4.8 per cent due to the shutdowns of Shanghai and other industrial centers. That is down by almost half from last year’s 8.1 per cent growth and below the ruling Communist Party’s 5.5 per cent target.

China’s case numbers in its latest infection surge are relatively low, but the ruling party is enforcing a “zero-COVID” strategy that has shut down major cities to isolate every case.

On Wednesday, the government reported 19,927 new cases in China’s mainland, all but 2,761 of which had no symptoms. Shanghai accounted for 95 per cent of the total, or 18,902 cases, of which 2,495 had symptoms.

The Shanghai city health agency reported seven people who had COVID-19 died Tuesday but said the deaths were due to cancer, heart disease and other ailments. All but two were over 60.

Shanghai shut down businesses and confined most of its population to their homes starting March 28 after a spike in infections. That led to complaints about lack of access to supplies of food and medicine. People in Shanghai who test positive but have no symptoms have been ordered into quarantine centers set up in exhibition halls and other public buildings.