Shanghai To Start Reopening Businesses Today

Beijing declares three more days of mass daily tests as city battles small outbreak

SHANGHAI/BEIJING Shanghai will gradually begin reopening businesses such as shopping malls and hair salons in China's financial and manufacturing hub from today after weeks in strict Covid-19 lockdown, while Beijing continues to battle a small outbreak.

Already shut down for more than six weeks, Shanghai is tightening curbs in some areas that it hopes marks a final push in its campaign against the virus, which has infuriated and exhausted residents of China's largest and most cosmopolitan city.

Shopping malls, department stores and supermarkets will begin resuming in-store operations and allow customers to shop in "an orderly way", while hair salons and vegetable markets will reopen with limited capacity, Vice-Mayor Chen Tong said yesterday.

He gave no specifics on the pace or extent of reopenings, and many residents in the city of 25 million reacted with scepticism online.

During Shanghai's lockdown, residents were mainly limited to buying necessities, with normal online shopping largely suspended due to a shortage of couriers.

In one hopeful sign, Shanghai's subway operator began testing trains on its vast network in preparation for reopening, a local government media outlet reported, but gave no indication of when it will do SO.