Chinese officials have instructed media professionals not to use the term “lockdown ending” to describe the reopening of the country’s far-eastern city of Shanghai, which last Wednesday left a strict two-month lockdown to contain the spread of Covid.
The information was shared by the China Digital Times, a bilingual website focused on the Asian country and based in California, USA. The authorities’ guidance was leaked by journalists who received it.
According to the excerpts made available, the argument is that, unlike Wuhan —considered the origin of the pandemic—, Shanghai “has never been declared a lockdown”. “All parts of the city went through lockdowns, but Shanghai’s main functions continued to operate during this period.”
The megacity of 25 million people confined most of the population in March to contain a local outbreak of coronavirus. In the two months that followed, numerous reports of popular discontent, some related to food shortages, were published on social media.
Shanghai this week eased most restrictions on 22.5 million people living in areas deemed to be low-risk. The mask remains a mandatory item, and negative tests are required for the use of public transport, but circulation on the streets and face-to-face work have resumed.
“Emphasize that these measures were temporary and limited,” the press briefing follows. The text also highlights what message should be sent about the reopening: “It does not mean that all people in all districts of the city will be able to leave freely at once nor that the relaxation is uniform.”
The China Digital Times explains that guidelines are often transmitted orally, so the leaked text may not exactly match what was said. Nor is it possible to identify whether the orders came from national authorities of the Chinese communist regime or the regional administration.
Even after the lifting of the main restrictions, there were reports of confined residents — or those who left the confinement and, shortly after, returned. This is the case of video producer Thomas Yau, who works for the South China Morning Post. “My neighborhood is under lockdown again due to a positive case; this is what they meant by reopening,” he wrote on social media.
In central Jing’an district, police officers locked the gate of a housing development with chains, and residents argued with government officials, according to an AFP news agency journalist at the scene. The prefecture said more than 500,000 people are still subject to restrictions.
There is also little confidence among the population that the situation will remain stable. This Thursday (2), Shanghai again reported cases of community infection with coronavirus for the first time in three days. Of the seven cases, three showed symptoms, local authorities said at a press conference.
“Shanghai has entered a new phase where the focus is on restoring life and business, but we continue to face the risk of a resurgence of cases,” said Wu Jinglei, the city’s health commissioner. “We must unquestionably adhere to the zero Covid policy in an attempt to eliminate the virus.”
Since the beginning of the pandemic, China has adopted the strategy of completely eliminating the spread of Covid. The World Health Organization has already criticized the strategy, which it described as unsustainable, as it goes against the current characteristics of the evolution of the virus.
Under economic pressure, Beijing even relaxed the policy, but never abandoned it. About 87% of the Chinese population completed the first vaccination cycle, and 54% received the booster dose of the immunizer, according to data compiled by Oxford University’s Our World in Data platform.
