Beijing had already reduced public transport, requesting some shopping malls and other venues to close
\n BEIJING\/SHANGHAI:
\nBeijing stepped up quarantine efforts to end its month-old COVID outbreak as fresh signs of frustration emerged in Shanghai, where some bemoaned unfair curbs with the city of 25 million preparing to lift a prolonged lockdown in just over a week.
\nEven as China\u2019s drastic attempts to eradicate COVID entirely – its \u201czero-COVID\u201d approach – bite into prospects for the world\u2019s second-biggest economy, new reported infection numbers remain well below levels seen in many Western cities. The capital reported 48 new cases for Monday among its population of 22 million, with Shanghai reporting fewer than 500.
\nStill, Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan called for more thorough measures to cut virus transmission and adhere to the nation\u2019s zero-COVID policy during an inspection tour in Beijing, state agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday.
\nThe situation in Beijing was manageable, but containment efforts cannot ease, she said, according to Xinhua.
\nIn one example of the stringency of Beijing\u2019s approach, around 1,800 people in one city neighbourhood were relocated to Zhangjiakou city in the nearby Hebei province for quarantine, the state-backed Beijing Daily reported.
\nStill in place are instructions for residents in six of the capital\u2019s 16 districts to work from home, while a further three districts encouraged people to follow such measures, with each district responsible for implementing its own guidelines.
\nBeijing had already reduced public transport, requesting some shopping malls and other venues to close and sealing buildings where new cases were detected.
\nIn Shanghai, authorities plan to keep most restrictions in place this month, before a more complete lifting of the two-month-old lockdown from June 1. Even then, public venues will have to cap people flows at 75% of capacity.
\n\u2018LET\u2019S STRIKE\u2019
\nWith Shanghai officially declared to be a zero-COVID city, some authorities allowed more people to leave their homes for brief periods over the past week, and more supermarkets and pharmacies were authorised to reopen and provide deliveries.
\nBut other lower-level officials separately tightened restrictions in some neighbourhoods, ordering residents back indoors to cement progress achieved so far during the city\u2019s final lap towards exiting the lockdown.
\nThat has led to frustration and complaints of uneven treatment among some residents.
\nWhile the zero-COVID status describes the entire city, and residents in some compounds have been allowed to move in and out of their homes freely, others have been told they can only go out for a few hours, and many of those stuck indoors were told nothing.
\nVideos circulating on social media this week showed residents arguing with officials to be let out of their residential compounds.
\nThe Shanghai government did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
\nOne resident told Reuters people in his compound decided on the WeChat social media platform to go out in groups.
\n\u201cLet\u2019s strike at our gate tonight to demand that we be allowed to go out like many of other compounds in the neighbourhood,\u201d he quoted one of his neighbours as saying in the group chat.
\nA video he shared then showed a group of people arguing at the entrance of the compound with a man who described himself as a sub-district official, who asked the residents to go back inside and discuss the situation.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t bother with him,\u201d one person said as some people were socialising outside the compound.
\nPeople in at least two other compounds were planning to try going outside despite not being told they were allowed to do so, residents said.
\nECONOMIC RESPITE?
\nAt a time when most other countries are moving to models of living with the virus, China\u2019s COVID measures are inflicting damage on its economy, as well as disrupting global supply chains.
\nMany analysts expect the economy to shrink in the second quarter, even if the overall COVID situation across China and economic activity has improved this month when compared with April.
\nTo support the economy, China will broaden tax credit rebates, postpone social security payments by small firms and loan repayments and roll out new investment projects among other steps, state television quoted the cabinet as saying.
\nIn one positive signal for Shanghai, electric vehicle giant Tesla plans to reach on Tuesday production levels similar to those before the lockdown at its plant in the city, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.
\nNomura analysts estimate 26 Chinese cities were implementing full or partial lockdowns or other COVID measures as of May 23, accounting for 208 million people and 20.5% of China\u2019s economic output. That would be down from 271 million the week before and 27% of output.
\n\u201cBut to us, this is merely a respite instead of a turning point,\u201d the analysts wrote in a note. They said passing a turning point would depend exclusively on an exit from the zero-COVID strategy, and not so much on daily case numbers and monthly activity data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beijing had already reduced public transport, requesting some shopping malls and other venues to close BEIJING\/SHANGHAI: Beijing stepped up quarantine efforts to end its month-old COVID outbreak as fresh signs of frustration emerged in Shanghai, where some bemoaned unfair curbs with the city of 25 million preparing to lift a prolonged lockdown in just over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1355,388,6215,7704],"class_list":{"0":"post-262516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-beijing","9":"tag-covid","10":"tag-quarantine","11":"tag-shanghai-residents"},"yoast_head":"\n