Shanghai allows 4 million out of homes as virus rules ease

A health official says 4 million more people in Shanghai have been allowed to leave their homes as coronavirus quarantine rules ease

BEIJING -- Shanghai allowed 4 million more people out of their homes Wednesday as coronavirus rules that shut down China’s largest city eased and some factories resumed operation.

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.

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.

The shutdown of Shanghai and other industrial centers to fight outbreaks has prompted fears global manufacturing and trade might be disrupted. Official data this week showed economic activity in the first three months of this year declined compared with the final quarter of 2021.