China eases COVID restrictions as cases drop (Gallery)
Shoppers return to malls
May 31, 2022
BEIJING — Shoppers returned to the malls of Beijing on Sunday as the Chinese capital relaxed pandemic restrictions after declaring a small but persistent COVID-19 outbreak effectively under control.
A partial reopening of stores and offices in Beijing was welcomed by a weary populace and struggling shopkeepers eager for life to return to normal. Coupled with a gradual easing of restrictions in Shanghai, it signaled that the worst is over in the twin outbreaks in China’s most prominent cities.
The lockdowns and other restrictions under China’s “zero-COVID” strategy have increasingly frustrated residents as they see other countries ease up and reopen their borders. Some have resisted and staged protests at apartment complexes and university dormitories in an authoritarian country where people think twice about speaking out publicly because of possible repercussions.
Restaurants remain closed in Beijing, except for takeout and delivery, and many people in Shanghai still can go out only with special passes and for a limited time period — even as the number of new cases has plummeted. Officials tend to err on the side of caution under a system that readily punishes them for lax enforcement if outbreaks flare up or come back.
China recorded 293 new cases on Saturday, of which 78 were among people who had arrived from overseas. With 122, Shanghai had the most non-imported cases, and Beijing had 21. That’s in a population of more than 20 million people in both cities.
Beijing allowed public parks, gyms and cinemas to reopen Sunday, all at 50% of their capacity. A portion of the Great Wall of China in a rural part of Beijing, about 40 miles from downtown, reopens to visitors Monday.
Xu Hejian, a city spokesperson, said Saturday that sporadic cases are still being found in some districts, but they are within a controllable range. “This round of outbreak has been put under effective control,” he said.
