Leaked directive reportedly shows that Chinese media were ordered to describe the two-month restrictions as \u2018static management-style suppression\u2019
\nShanghai
\nAuthorities in Shanghai have reportedly ordered the media to refrain from using the term \u201clockdown\u201d while reporting on the end of the city\u2019s two-month lockdown.
\nThis week the Chinese city of 25 million people reopened, allowing most to leave their homes, go to work, and use public transport after more than 60 days inside. On Thursday, according to leaked directives from the city, Chinese media were told to disseminate information about the changes to restrictions, but ordered not to use the phrase \u201cending the lockdown\u201d.
\n\u201cUnlike Wuhan, Shanghai never declared a lockdown, so there is no \u2018ending the lockdown\u2019,\u201d said censorship directives issued to media on Tuesday, and leaked to the China Digital Times.
\n\u201cAll parts of Shanghai underwent static management-style suppression and suspensions, but the city\u2019s core functions kept operating throughout this period. Emphasise that related measures were temporary, conditional, and limited.\u201d
\nChina Digital Times cautioned that such directives are sometimes delivered to publishers orally, and so the wording may not be exact. The Guardian has not independently verified the document.
\nFor more than two months Shanghai residents had been largely confined to their apartments or residential communities, or taken to centralised quarantine centres, often for simply living in the same building as a case. The early weeks of the lockdown were beset by food shortages and problems in accessing medical care. Businesses and factories which did not shut down had to operate in \u201cclosed loop\u201d systems, often with staff living on site.
\nOn Thursday, curbs were lifted for about 22.5 million people in low-risk areas. Residents must still wear masks in public and avoid gatherings, and restaurant dining remains banned. Shops can operate at 75% capacity, while gyms will reopen at a later date.
\nThe lifting of the restrictions came as authorities declared the outbreak to be \u201ceffectively controlled\u201d, but the directives also urged media to stress that the eased measures were \u201cconditional\u201d.
\n\u201cIt is by no means the case that every person in every district across the whole city will be able to freely head out at once, nor that this is a uniform relaxation,\u201d it said.
\nOn Thursday, a Shanghai-based journalist, Thomas Yau, reported his neighbourhood had already gone back into lockdown because of a single case walking down the street.
\nThe chaos of Shanghai\u2019s lockdown sparked major criticism of China\u2019s commitment to a zero-Covid policy, and was a source of embarrassment for Shanghai\u2019s authorities who had tried to avoid one. The resource-intensive policy had been effective throughout the pandemic, but the increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant challenged the usual methods of health surveillance, mass testing, and targeted or regional lockdowns.
\nDespite the challenges, China\u2019s leadership remains committed to the policy. Districts of Beijing were also put under lockdown, or ordered to work from home, while the city also enacted broad public transport shutdowns and other curbs on movement which began to lift last week.
\nSeveral cities and provinces have launched \u201croutinised\u201d testing regimes, requiring a regular negative PCR test \u2013 ranging from every two to seven days – in return for freedom of movement. Some areas require the test weekly. In Shanghai, people must test negative every 72 hours, and those testing positive, and their close contacts, face onerous quarantines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Leaked directive reportedly shows that Chinese media were ordered to describe the two-month restrictions as \u2018static management-style suppression\u2019 Shanghai Authorities in Shanghai have reportedly ordered the media to refrain from using the term \u201clockdown\u201d while reporting on the end of the city\u2019s two-month lockdown. This week the Chinese city of 25 million people reopened, allowing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7429,3360,1889],"class_list":{"0":"post-264145","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-bans","9":"tag-lockdown","10":"tag-shanghai"},"yoast_head":"\n