On Monday, millions of people in the Chinese megacity of Chengdu emerged from a Covid-19 lockdown that had forced inhabitants to stay inside their homes for more than two weeks, resulting in the closure of schools, disruptions to businesses, and the cancellation of regular operations. Chengdu, which is located in southwest China and has a population of 21 million people, is the most major Chinese city to shut down since Shanghai, which is the international banking centre, enforced a rigorous two-month lockdown in April, leaving many citizens scurrying for food.
China is the only major economy that continues to adhere to a zero-Covid strategy, and government officials there are under intense pressure to contain viral outbreaks as quickly as possible in front of an important political gathering in the middle of October.
In a press statement that was issued on Sunday, the authorities in Chengdu declared that the pandemic had been successfully managed thanks to the collaborative efforts of the whole city. According to the statement, organisations such as government offices, companies, and public transportation providers were allowed to start back up their operations on Monday after being forced to shut down on September 1.
To comply with the standards that are in place in other major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, mass testing will continue to be carried out in Chengdu, and anyone who wishes to enter a public space or ride public transportation will be required to have a negative Covid test result obtained within the previous 72 hours.
According to the statement, the process of reopening schools would be conducted in a “orderly way,” and returning children will be subject to stringent scrutiny. It is the responsibility of fitness centres, swimming pools, mahjong clubs, and other indoor recreational facilities to determine whether or not clients have an adverse test result during the last 48 hours.
On Monday, there were no reports of any newly discovered cases anywhere in the city.
Locals told the AFP that under the rigorous lockdown, several inhabitants who were confined to their houses were unable to even evacuate when a huge earthquake struck a nearby portion of Sichuan province earlier this month. The earthquake resonated by way of town.
The global team desk tennis championships will be held in Chengdu at the end of September in a “closed-loop” bubble. This will be the first international sporting event that China has hosted since the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics in February and March.
In recent weeks, authorities in a number of Chinese locations, including the southern tech powerhouse of Shenzhen and Guiyang in the south of the country, where Apple’s China data centre is located, have implemented targeted lockdowns and travel restrictions in an effort to contain minor epidemics.
When their bus crashed on a highway in the countryside of Guizhou province in southwest China on Sunday, 27 people lost their lives as they were on their way to a quarantine facility. The authorities have issued an apology and begun an investigation into the disaster, which has caused indignation on the internet.
What evidence do you have that you won’t be riding that bus late at night at some point in the future? Learn one viral post that was put up on Weibo that received thousands of likes.
According to the data provided by the National Health Commission, China recorded 807 new home illnesses on Monday, the vast majority of which exhibited no outward symptoms.
