{"id":1496174,"date":"2022-05-29T08:00:13","date_gmt":"2022-05-29T12:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1496174"},"modified":"2022-05-29T08:00:18","modified_gmt":"2022-05-29T12:00:18","slug":"beijing-plans-to-ease-covid-curbs-as-shanghai-inches-towards-reopening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/beijing-plans-to-ease-covid-curbs-as-shanghai-inches-towards-reopening\/","title":{"rendered":"Beijing Plans to Ease COVID Curbs as Shanghai Inches Towards Reopening"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbeijing-plans-to-ease-covid-curbs-as-shanghai-inches-towards-reopening%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1496174&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><header aria-label=\"Beginning of Article\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>Author of the article:<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Reuters\" aria-labelledby=\"wire-company-name\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ece9211fd9c00aae0fd0c048a367ea1d?s=70&#038;d=mp\" \/> <\/p>\n<p> Reuters <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A health worker takes a swab sample from a man during a COVID-19 lockdown in the Jing&#039;an district in Shanghai, China, Friday, May 27, 2022.\" src=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/torontosun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Shanghai-COVID-May27-scaled-e1653754366228.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=288&#038;h=216\" \/><figcaption> <span>A health worker takes a swab sample from a man during a COVID-19 lockdown in the Jing&#8217;an district in Shanghai, China, Friday, May 27, 2022.<\/span> <span>Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL \/ AFP<\/span> \/<span>Getty Images<\/span> <\/figcaption><\/header>\n<p>SHANGHAI \u2014 The Chinese metropolis of Shanghai inched further towards a gradual reopening from two months of grinding COVID-19 lockdown, while officials in Beijing prepared to ease curbs in parts of the capital, saying on Saturday the outbreak was under control.<\/p>\n<p>Shanghai aims to essentially end its lockdown from Wednesday after relaxing restrictions over the last week.<\/p>\n<p>More people have been allowed out of their homes, and more businesses permitted to reopen, though most residents remain largely confined to their housing compounds, with shops mainly limited to deliveries.<\/p>\n<p>Shanghai officials urged continued vigilance, even though the vast majority of its 25 million residents live in areas that are in the lowest-risk \u201cprevention\u201d category.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWear masks in public, no gathering and keep social distance,\u201d Zhao Dandan, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, told a daily news conference.<\/p>\n<p>Videos on social media showed Friday night revelers including many foreigners drinking and dancing in the street in a central area of the city before police interrupted and told them to go home.<\/p>\n<p>Another video showed a group in the street singing an emotional 1985 pop anthem called \u201cTomorrow will be better,\u201d accompanied by a keyboard player. Police can be seen arriving and allowing the song to finish before asking the people to go home, prompting online praise for the officers\u2019 restraint.<\/p>\n<p>The two-month lockdown of China\u2019s largest and most cosmopolitan city has frustrated and infuriated residents, hundreds of thousands of whom have been quarantined in often crowded central facilities.<\/p>\n<p>Many of them struggled to access sufficient food or medical care during the lockdown\u2019s early weeks.<\/p>\n<h4>\u2018UNDER CONTROL\u2019<\/h4>\n<p>In Beijing, new cases have trended lower for six days, with no fresh infections outside of quarantine areas reported on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>The outbreak that began on April 22 is \u201ceffectively under control,\u201d a city government spokesman told a news conference.<\/p>\n<p>Starting on Sunday, shopping malls, libraries, museums, theaters and gyms will be allowed to reopen, with limits on numbers of people, in the eight of Beijing\u2019s 16 districts that have seen no community cases for seven consecutive days.<\/p>\n<p>Two of the districts will end work-from-home rules, while public transportation will largely resume in three districts including Chaoyang, the city\u2019s largest. Still, restaurant dining remains banned city-wide.<\/p>\n<p>While nationwide case numbers are improving, China\u2019s strict adherence to its \u201czero-COVID\u201d strategy has devastated the world\u2019s second-largest economy and rattled global supply chains.<\/p>\n<p>Investors have been worried about the lack of a roadmap for exiting what has been a signature policy of President Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n<p>The economic impact was evident in data on Friday showing April profits at industrial firms fell an annual 8.5%, the biggest drop in two years.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s approach, which the government says is needed to save lives and prevent the health system from being overwhelmed, has been challenged by the hard-to-contain Omicron variant.<\/p>\n<p>The conflict between vanquishing the spread of COVID and supporting the economy comes in a politically sensitive year, with Xi expected to secure an unprecedented third leadership term at a congress of the ruling Communist Party in the autumn.<\/p>\n<p>During an emergency meeting on Wednesday, Premier Li Keqiang acknowledged weak growth and said economic difficulties had been worse in some aspects than in 2020 when China was initially hit by COVID-19. His remarks prompted market expectations of further economic support measures.<\/p>\n<h4>SMALL STEPS<\/h4>\n<p>On Friday, Shanghai\u2019s suburban Fengxian district canceled a requirement for residents to have a pass to go out.<\/p>\n<p>The state-run Shanghai Securities News reported modest steps towards a return to normality for the financial sector, with the more than 10,000 bankers and traders who have been living and working in their offices since the start of lockdown gradually returning home.<\/p>\n<p>The country on Saturday reported 362 daily coronavirus cases, down from 444 a day earlier. In Beijing, new Friday infections fell to 24 from 29.<\/p>\n<p>While Shanghai officials reported one community-level case in the Songjiang district, they expressed confidence in the steps they were taking to trace and control the infection chain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf these measures are implemented effectively, we can prevent a rebound of the epidemic even if there are sporadic cases, so don\u2019t worry,\u201d said Sun Xiaodong, deputy director of the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n<div> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"opening envelope\" src=\"https:\/\/dcs-static.gstage.postmedia.digital\/10.5.3\/websites\/images\/newsletters\/logo\/newsletter-envelope.svg\" \/> <\/p>\n<div>\n<p>From our newsroom to your inbox at noon, the latest headlines, stories, opinion and photos from the Toronto Sun.<\/p>\n<p> By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300 <\/p>\n<div hidden>\n<h3>Thanks for signing up!<\/h3>\n<p>A welcome email is on its way. If you don&#8217;t see it, please check your junk folder.<\/p>\n<p>The next issue of Your Midday Sun will soon be in your inbox.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Author of the article:  Reuters   A health worker takes a swab sample from a man during a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":489,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1496174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1496174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/489"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1496174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1496174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1496174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1496174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1496174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}