Shanghai said on Saturday it had detected no new daily COVID-19 cases outside quarantine areas, marking a key milestone in its battle to contain the virus, which has paralysed the city of 25 million and put residents in Beijing on edge.
Streets in the capital were eerily quiet at the start of a long Labour Day break, with residents anxious that authorities would impose further restrictions during a holiday when many typically travel or socialise.
Shanghai officials did not discuss the milestone at their daily news conference on the numbers for Friday, but Chinese social media cheered, with the topic "Shanghai sees zero-COVID transmission at the community level" receiving more than 190,000 views on Saturday morning on the Weibo platform. But some cast doubt over the Shanghai milestone, noting that most of the city's residents were locked in some form of quarantine.
"The city's epidemic and prevention control is currently still at a critical state, and the trend is still that people need to strengthen controls," said Zhao Dandan, deputy director of Shanghai's health commission. "Let us all hold fast to this hard-won level of defence we have reached." Infections are easing as the world's most populous country enters the Labour Day break, which runs through Wednesday, traditionally one of China's busiest tourist seasons, but which is taking a huge hit this year due to the virus.Some observers say authorities have been less strict in making people take tests in recent days.
Nomura estimates 46 cities are in full or partial lockdowns, affecting 343 million people. Societe Generale estimates that provinces experiencing significant mobility restrictions account for 80% of China's economic output.
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