BEIJING: China’s Shenzhen moved away on Monday (Sep 5) from a weekend COVID-19 lockdown covering most parts of the city as new infections showed signs of stabilising in its latest outbreak, while entertainment venues and large events remained suspended.
An outbreak since late August prompted Shenzhen to temporarily order most of its 17.7 million residents to largely remain at home over the weekend and subject them to two rounds of mass testing.
By Monday, restrictions on dining and certain park visits were eased, and many subway stations resumed operation, in efforts to minimise disruptions while still adhering to Beijing’s “dynamic COVID-zero” policy that aims at containing each and every outbreak.
The adjustments came after the southern tech hub found fewer infections among those who hadn’t been quarantined already.
The latest data showed 71 new local cases for Sunday, down from 89 a day earlier, while the cumulative figure of around 500 infections since late August remains less than the total in the last major outbreak in mid-March.
But Shenzhen remains on high vigilance against the Omicron subvariants.
The city said it will classify its areas into three categories from Monday – reflecting low, medium and high risk of infection – depending on the results of the weekend testing.
In areas deemed low risk, the city will remove restrictions that confined much of its population to residential compounds over the weekend, though lockdowns will remain in place in “high” and “medium” risk neighbourhoods.
In areas where infections were found, temporary restrictions would be prolonged for three days.