SHANGHAI: China’s financial and manufacturing hub Shanghai will gradually start reopening businesses such as malls and hair salons from Monday after weeks of a strict COVID-19 lockdown, the city’s vice mayor said at a news conference on Sunday (May 15).
Shanghai, which has been in lockdown for more than six weeks, is in the midst of a recent tightening in some areas which it hopes will provide a final boost in the fight against the virus.
Malls, department stores and supermarkets will start resuming operations in stores, allowing customers to shop “in an orderly manner,” while hair salons and vegetable markets will reopen with limited capacity, Vice Mayor Chen Tong said, but gave no details of the speed or the extent of such reopenings.
During Shanghai’s lockdown, residents mainly limited themselves to shopping for necessities, with normal shopping on online platforms largely suspended.
Shanghai will also soon announce a third “white list” of more than 820 import-export companies that can resume operations, a city official said.
Shanghai reported 1,203 new local asymptomatic coronavirus cases for May 14, up from 1,487 the day before. Confirmed symptomatic cases fell to 166 from 194 the previous day, data released on Sunday showed.
No cases were found outside of quarantine areas, after one was reported a day earlier. The city reported three new deaths related to COVID-19, compared to one the day before.
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