More Shanghai residents were given the freedom to go out to shop for groceries for the first time in nearly two months as authorities set out more plans for exiting the city-wide Covid-19 lockdown more fully.
The commercial hub of 25 million recorded no new infections outside quarantined areas for the fifth day in a row, further cementing its “zero Covid” status with each day.
“I feel very happy, the lifting of the lockdown is starting,” shopper Zhong Renqiu said at a Carrefour supermarket in the central Changning district that had just reopened. “We’ve mainly relied on government provisions and group-buys,” said Zhong, who was stocking up on eggs, goji berries, black sesame and oats.
But officials are wary of the danger of new flare-ups of infection in their high-stakes effort to gradually re-open and are planning to keep most residents largely indoors this month, and prioritising work and production over other activities.
Deputy mayor Zhang Wei said economic activity had been recovering with businesses able to operate with workers living onsite and that authorities would allow more to resume normal operations from the beginning of June.
