Traffic, pedestrians and joggers reappeared on the streets of Shanghai on Wednesday as China’s largest city began returning to normalcy after a strict two-month COVID-19 lockdown that drew unusual protests over its heavy-handed implementation. Shanghai’s Communist Party committee, the city’s most powerful political body, issued a letter online proclaiming the lockdown’s success and thanking citizens for their “support and contributions.” That came amid a steady rollback in compulsory measures that have upended daily life for millions while severely disrupting the economy and global supply chains. Government officials in recent days appeared ready to accelerate the gradual easing of restrictions. While defending President and Communist Party chief Xi Jinping’s hardline “zero-COVID policy,” the country’s leadership appears to be acknowledging the public backlash against measures seen as trampling already severely limited rights to privacy and participation in the workings of government. In one such step, the Cabinet’s Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism issued a circular Tuesday laying out rules banning “non-standard, simple and rude indoor disinfection” by mostly untrained teams in Shanghai and elsewhere that have left homes damaged and led to reports of property theft. Also read: China’s ‘zero-COVID’ restrictions curb May 1 holiday travel Full bus and subway service in Shanghai was being restored from Wednesday, with rail connections with the rest of China to follow. Still, more than half a million people in the city of 25 million remain under lockdown or in designated control zones because virus cases are still being detected. The government says all restrictions will be gradually lifted, but local neighborhood committees still wield considerable power to implement sometimes conflicting and arbitrary policies. Negative PCR tests for COVID-19 taken within the previous 48 hours also remain standard in Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere for permission to enter public venues. That measure didn’t deter people in Shanghai from gathering outside to eat and drink under the watch of police deployed to discourage large crowds from forming. Cao Yue, who works in the hard-hit travel industry, said she was glad to see “many happy people around me on the street.” Cao said the past two months under lockdown was a depressing experience. “At the beginning of the lockdown I felt hard in my heart because I didn’t know what to do and it was difficult to buy food at the beginning,” she said. “It was quite depressing to be locked at home and see the whole Shanghai under lockdown.” Lu Kexin, a high school senior visiting the famed riverside Bund district for the first time since late March, said she went crazy being trapped at home for so long. “I’m very happy, extremely happy, all the way, too happy,” she said. Schools will partially reopen on a voluntary basis, and shopping malls, supermarkets, convenience stores and drug stores will reopen gradually at no more than 75% of their total capacity. Cinemas and gyms will remain closed. Health authorities on Wednesday reported just 15 new cases of COVID-19 in Shanghai, down from a record high of around 20,000 daily cases in April. A few malls and markets have reopened, and some residents have been given passes allowing them out for a few hours at a time. The lockdown has prompted an exodus of Chinese and foreign residents, with crowds forming outside the city’s Hongqiao Railway Station, where only some train service had been resumed. Even while the rest of the world has opened up, China has stuck to “zero-COVID,” which requires lockdowns, mass testing and isolation at centralized facilities of anyone who is infected or has been in contact with someone who has tested positive. The country’s borders also remain largely closed and the government has upped requirements for the issuance of passports and permission to travel abroad.

Shanghai will relax the curbs on entering or leaving residential compounds, resume public transport services and ease rules on private cars on roads, local authorities said Monday. The new rules will be put into effect starting Wednesday as the city's COVID-19 situation has been effectively curbed, according to a statement by Shanghai municipal leading group for COVID-19 prevention and control. Also read: N. Korea moves to soften curbs amid doubts over COVID counts No restrictions should be put on residents entering or leaving residential compounds except for those in middle and high risk areas and areas put under COVID-19 restrictions, the statement said. Shanghai will also essentially resume public transport services, including buses, rail transport and ferries, in the city, according to the statement. Taxis and online-hailing services will resume business and private cars will be allowed on roads, except for those in middle and high risk areas and areas put under COVID-19 restrictions, it said. Also read: India records 2,710 new COVID-19 cases, 14 more deaths

The locked-down Chinese metropolis of Shanghai will reopen four of its 20 subway lines Sunday as it slowly eases pandemic restrictions that have kept most residents in their housing complexes for more than six weeks. The city will also restart 273 bus lines connecting major urban centers, airports, train stations and hospitals as it resumes cross-district public transit, Yu Fulin, director of the Shanghai Transport Commission, said at a daily pandemic briefing Thursday. Also read:Shanghai re-tightens on COVID, frustrating trapped residents It wasn't immediately clear how frequent the service would be. Bus service resumed on a trial basis within three outlying districts this week, with buses running every 30 to 90 minutes during daylight hours. The lockdown of China's largest city has dealt a blow to the economy and frustrated residents, particularly as many countries elsewhere in the world move away from such harsh measures as they try to live with the virus. But officials have stuck to a ‘zero-COVID’ approach, saying that lifting restrictions could strain the public health system and lead to more deaths, particularly among the not fully vaccinated elderly. The outbreak in Shanghai has taken 580 lives, according to official statistics, making it the deadliest one since the initial outbreak in the city of Wuhan in early 2020. Even as the number of new cases plummets, authorities are relaxing restrictions in a slow and deliberate manner as they try to ensure that the virus no longer spreads anywhere outside of quarantine facilities and areas with known infections. The city of 25 million people recorded about 700 new cases on Wednesday, accounting for most of the about 1,000 cases nationwide. Also read: New tests to decide Shanghai reopening as Beijing stocks up Authorities in Beijing, which reported 55 new cases, closed some subway stations and bus lines, banned dining in restaurants and strongly encouraged residents to work from home as they try to prevent a Shanghai-scale outbreak in the Chinese capital. Elsewhere in China, the city of Guang'an in in China's southwestern Sichuan province was locked down on Wednesday. The province recorded about 150 new cases.

The city of Shanghai is doubling down on pandemic restrictions after a brief period of loosening up, frustrating residents who were hoping a more than monthlong lockdown was finally easing as the number of new cases falls in China's financial center. Teams in white protective suits have begun entering the homes of coronavirus-infected people to spray disinfectant, prompting worries among some about damage to clothes and valuables and leaving their keys with a community volunteer when they are taken to quarantine — a new requirement so disinfectant workers can get in. Also read: New tests to decide Shanghai reopening as Beijing stocks up Shanghai also has ordered people in some areas to stay in their homes again after letting them out for limited shopping in recent weeks. On Tuesday, service was suspended on the last two subway lines that were still operating, marking the first time the city’s entire system has been shut down, according to The Paper, an online media outlet. China's adherence to a “zero-COVID” strategy, as many other countries loosen restrictions and try to live with the virus, is exacting a growing economic and human cost. Evermore extreme measures have been required to bring outbreaks under control, because the omicron variant spreads so easily. China's ruling Communist Party, with an eye on a major party congress this fall, is showing no signs of backing off anytime soon. Escape from Shanghai is all but impossible, but that didn't stop an unofficial how-to guide — detailing how to navigate lockdown controls and nab a seat on the few trains and planes leaving the city — from circulating widely on social media. Many in the city of 25 million people shared their frustration with the renewed restrictions in chat groups. The daily number of new cases in Shanghai had fallen to about 3,000 by Monday, down from a peak of 26,000 in mid-April. Six more COVID-19-related deaths were reported, raising the toll from the outbreak to 553. Beijing began another round of three days of mass testing for millions of its residents Tuesday in a bid to prevent an outbreak in the nation's capital from growing to Shanghai proportions. The city, which recorded 74 new cases on Monday, has locked down individual buildings and residential compounds, shut about 60 subway stations and banned dining at restaurants, allowing only takeout and delivery. The outbreak has not exploded but it also has not stopped spreading. Beijing spokesperson Xu Hejian described the situation Tuesday as a “stalemate” and said that the city needs to continue its strict measures. Also read: Shanghai seeks ‘societal zero COVID’ with rounds of testing While traffic is sparse in Beijing, it is almost non-existent in Shanghai, where the lockdown has been going on longer and is citywide. AP video shot Monday showed a silent and deserted city, with only a very occasional vehicle and a few food delivery drivers on scooters moving down empty roads. Most people are confined to their apartments or residential complexes, though there has been some easing in outlying suburban areas without new cases in their communities. But notices issued in several Shanghai districts in recent days ordered residents to stay home and barred them from receiving nonessential deliveries as part of a “quiet period” lasting until Wednesday or longer. The measures could be extended depending on the results of mass testing, the notices said. The sudden re-tightening took residents by surprise. Shanghai official Jin Chen appeared to acknowledge Tuesday the complaints about the disinfecting of people's homes, thanking them for their cooperation and saying the government would analyze and fix any problems. He said that residents can inform the teams about any items that need protection. “Carrying out household disinfection is an important part of the overall epidemic prevention and control,” he told a daily virus news conference. A constitutional law professor, Tong Zhiwei, posted an article recently calling for Shanghai to end what he called “excessive pandemic prevention measures" such as quarantining residents and forcing them to surrender their house keys, saying the requirements contravene the rule of law. The article has been removed from the internet as the government censors criticism of its response. Thousands of people have been forced into quarantine centers after testing positive or having been in contact with an infected person, standard procedure in China's zero-COVID approach.

Shanghai authorities on Monday reported the first COVID-19 deaths of the latest outbreak in China’s most populous and wealthiest city. All three who died were elderly, had underlying diseases such as diabetes and hypertension and had not been vaccinated against the coronavirus, city Health Commission inspector Wu Ganyu told journalists. Also read: Shanghai quarantine: 24-hour lights, no hot showers “After entering hospital, their conditions grew worse and they died after attempts to save them were unsuccessful," Wu said. The deaths raise to 4,641 the number of people China says have succumbed to the disease since the virus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019. Most of Shanghai’s 25 million residents are being confined to their homes for a third week as China continues to employ a “zero-tolerance” strategy to curb the outbreak, demanding isolation of anyone possibly infected. China on Monday said 23,362 people had tested positive for the virus over the previous 24 hours, most of them showing no symptoms and almost all of them in Shanghai. The city has reported more than 300,000 cases since late March. Shanghai began easing restrictions last week, although officials have warned the city doesn't have its outbreak under control. Shanghai, which is home to China's biggest port and most important stock exchange, appeared unprepared for such a massive undertaking. Residents ran short of food and daily necessities while enduring lockdown conditions, and tens of thousands of people put under medical observation have been sequestered in crowded facilities where lights are always on, garbage bins overflow, food is inadequate and hot showers nonexistent. Anyone who tests positive but has few or no symptoms is required to spend one week in a quarantine facility. Concerns have risen about the economic impact of the government's hardline policy. Also read: COVID outbreak 'extremely grim' as Shanghai extends lockdown China’s economic growth edged up to a still-weak 4.8% over a year earlier in the first three months of 2022 as lockdowns cut production in major industrial cities. Official data showed growth accelerated from the previous quarter’s 4%. While the ruling Communist Party has urged more targeted prevention measures, local officials have routinely adopted stringent regulations, possibly for fear of being fired or penalized over outbreaks in their areas. In the city of Wenzhou, which has seen only a handful of cases, authorities have authorized rewards of up to 50,000 yuan ($7,800) for information about people who falsify their health status, online news site The Paper reported.

Beibei sleeps beside thousands of strangers in rows of cots in a high-ceilinged exhibition center. The lights stay on all night, and the 30-year-old real estate saleswoman has yet to find a hot shower. Beibei and her husband were ordered into the massive National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai last Tuesday after spending 10 days isolated at home following a positive test. Their 2-year-old daughter, who was negative, went to her grandfather, while her nanny also went into quarantine. Residents show “no obvious symptoms,” Beibei, who asked to be identified only by her given name, told The Associated Press in an interview by video phone. Also read: COVID outbreak 'extremely grim' as Shanghai extends lockdown “There are people coughing,” she said. “But I have no idea if they have laryngitis or omicron.” The convention center, with 50,000 beds, is one of more than 100 quarantine facilities set up in China's most populous city for those such as Beibei who test positive but have few or no symptoms. It's part of official efforts to contain China’s biggest coronavirus outbreak since the 2-year-old pandemic began. But it's also testing patience of people increasingly fed up with China's harsh “zero-COVID” policy that aims to isolate every case. “At the beginning people were frightened and panicked,” Beibei said. “But with the publication of daily figures, people have started to accept that this particular virus is not that horrible.” Beibei was told she was due to be released Monday after two negative tests while at the convention center. Most of Shanghai shut down starting March 28 and its 25 million people were ordered to stay home. That led to complaints about food shortages and soaring economic losses. Anyone who tests positive but shows few or no symptoms is required to spend one week in a quarantine facility. Beibei said she had a stuffy nose and briefly lost part of her senses of taste and smell, but those symptoms passed in a few days. On Sunday, China reported 26,155 new cases, all but 3,529 of which had no symptoms. Shanghai accounted for 95% of the total, or 24,820, including 3,238 with no symptoms. The city has reported more than 300,000 cases since late March. Shanghai began easing restrictions last week, though a health official warned the city didn’t have its outbreak under control. At the convention center, residents are checked twice a day for fever and told to record health information on mobile phones, according to Beibei. Most people pass the time by reading, square dancing, taking online classes or watching videos on mobile phones. Also read: COVID-19 cases rise in Shanghai with millions under lockdown The 420,000-square-meter (4.6 million-square-foot) exhibition center is best known as the site of the world’s biggest auto show. Other quarantine sites include temporary prefabricated buildings. Residents of other facilities have complained about leaky roofs, inadequate food supplies and delays in treatment for medical problems. “We haven’t found a place with a hot shower,” Beibei said. “Lights are on all night, and it’s hard to fall asleep.” A video obtained by AP showed wet beds and floors due a leaky roof in a different facility in a prefabricated building. “Bathrooms are not very clean,” Beibei said. “So many people use them, and volunteers or cleaners can’t keep up.”

The COVID-19 outbreak in China’s largest metropolis of Shanghai remains “extremely grim” amid an ongoing lockdown confining around 26 million people to their homes, a city official said Tuesday. Director of Shanghai's working group on epidemic control, Gu Honghui, was quoted by state media as saying that the outbreak in the city was “still running at a high level." “The situation is extremely grim," Gu said. Also read:COVID-19 cases rise in Shanghai with millions under lockdown China has sent more than 10,000 health workers from around the country to aid the city, including 2,000 from the military, and is mass testing residents, some of whom have been locked down for weeks. Most of eastern Shanghai, which was supposed to reopen last Friday, remained locked down along with the western half of the city. Officials would reevaluate preventative measures after the results of tests on all city residents are analyzed, Gu said. “Before that, citizens are asked to continue following the current lockdown measures and stay in their homes except for medical and other emergency situations,” Gu said. Shanghai has reported more than 73,000 positive COVID-19 infections since the resurgence of the highly contagious Omicron variant in March. Shanghai recorded another 13,354 cases on Monday — the vast majority of them asymptomatic — bringing the city's total to more than 73,000 since the latest wave of infections began last month. No deaths have been ascribed to the outbreak driven by the omicron BA.2 variant, which is much more infectious but also less lethal than the previous delta strain. A separate outbreak continues to rage in the northeastern province of Jilin and the capital Beijing also saw an additional nine cases, just one of them asymptomatic. Workers shut down an entire shopping center in the city where a case had been detected. While China's vaccination rate hovers around 90%, its domestically produced inactivated virus vaccines are seen as weaker than the mRNA vaccines such as those produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna that are used abroad, as well as in the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macao. Vaccination rates among the elderly are also much lower than the population at large, with only around half of those over 80 fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, complaints have arisen in Shanghai over difficulties obtaining food and daily necessities, and shortages of medical workers, volunteers and beds in isolation wards where tens of thousands are being kept for observation. Shanghai has converted an exhibition hall and other facilities into massive isolation centers where people with mild or no symptoms are housed in a sea of beds separated by temporary partitions. Gu said about 47,700 beds are available for COVID-19 patients, with another 30,000 beds to be ready soon. It wasn't clear how many beds were available for patients placed under observation, who number more than 100,000 according to city health authorities. Public outrage has been fueled by reports and video clips posted on the internet documenting the death of a nurse who was denied admittance to her own hospital under COVID-19 restrictions, and infant children separated from their parents. Circulation of footage showing multiple infants kept in cots prompted the city’s Public Health Clinical Center to issue a statement saying the children were being well looked after and had been in the process of being moved to a new facility when the footage was taken. At a virtual town hall Monday, the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai warned of possible family separations amid the lockdown, but said it had an “extremely limited ability” to intervene in such cases. Also read:China to back military-ruled Myanmar regardless of situation Concern is growing about the potential economic impact on China’s financial capital, also a major shipping and manufacturing center. Most public transport has been suspended and non-essential businesses closed, although airports and train stations remain open and the city’s port and some major industries such as car plants continue to operate. International events in the city have been canceled and three out of five foreign companies with operations in Shanghai say they have cut this year’s sales forecasts, according to a survey conducted last week by the American Chamber of Commerce. One-third of the 120 companies that responded to the survey said they have delayed investments. Despite those concerns and growing public frustration, China says it is sticking to its hardline “zero-tolerance" approach mandating lockdowns, mass testing and the compulsory isolation of all suspected cases and close contacts.

Typhoon In-fa hit China’s east coast south of Shanghai on Sunday, after airline flights and trains were canceled and the public was ordered to stay indoors. The typhoon made landfall in Zhoushan in Zhejiang province, state TV reported, citing the national weather agency. It forecast rainfall of 250-350 millimeters (10-14 inches). “People should not willingly go outdoors,” the bureau said. Also read: China blasts dam to divert floods that killed at least 25 The typhoon was packing winds of 155 kilometers (95 miles) per hour and gusts up to 191 kph (120 mph) when it dumped rain on Taiwan. It knocked down tree branches but no deaths or injuries were reported. Hundreds of flights at Shanghai Pudong and Shanghai Hongqiao airports were canceled and more were expected to be canceled on Monday, state TV reported. Shanghai closed parks and the riverfront Bund district, a popular tourist area. The international airport in Hangzhou, southwest of Shanghai, also canceled flights. Also read: At least 12 dead as floodwaters rush into subway tunnel in China Train service to Ningbo, a port city south of Shanghai, was suspended, according to state TV. The Zhoushan Bridge that connects islands near Ningbo was closed, as were schools, markets and businesses in Zhejiang province. On Saturday, large container ships were moved from Yangshan Port in Shanghai, one of the world’s busiest shipping centers. State TV said a ship lock in Nantong, which abuts Shanghai to the north, stopped releasing vessels into the Yangtze River. Meanwhile in central China, the death toll rose to 58 after record rains hit the major city of Zhengzhou on Tuesday, state TV reported. The rains flooded a Zhengzhou subway tunnel where at least 12 people died, knocked out power to a hospital and other buildings and left streets filled with mud. Rescuers used bulldozers and rubber boats to evacuate residents of areas that still were underwater, according to the Shanghai news outlet The Paper.

Shanghai reported nine newly confirmed cases of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from overseas Wednesday, the local health authority said Thursday.

Shanghai reported two new confirmed COVID-19 cases from overseas on Saturday, the municipal health commission said Sunday.