The number of people affected by Covid-19 was only twenty-nine on Tuesday, May 31, against more than 27,000 daily cases in the Chinese city in mid-April. After the restrictions are almost completely lifted on June 1, regular PCR tests will be carried out.
Families walking at a leisurely pace along the Huangpu River, runners in neon shorts jogging, a young girl on a skateboard pulled by her dog… on the “West Bund”, the developed banks of the river that separates Shanghai into two, life seems almost back to normal. Only cafes and museums, not yet open, and playgrounds, surrounded by barriers, are missing. A little everywhere in the city, walkers, liberated, took to the streets, on foot or on bicycles. Cars are still prohibited: the only motorized vehicles are trucks, or police cars, or the rare beneficiaries of exit permits. There is a strange atmosphere in the most populous city in China: the inhabitants who can take advantage of their newfound freedom while a few million of them are still locked up. In Shanghai, the city of money king, the inhabitants have nowhere to consume, to the chagrin of the bosses of shops still condemned by seals.
After two months of drastic confinement, most Shanghai residents are expected to be released on Wednesday June 1. The ultra-strict approach of the Chinese authorities has achieved its goal: the number of Covid-19 cases reached only twenty-nine cases on Tuesday, May 31, against more than 27,000 daily cases in Shanghai in mid-April. In the meantime, residents have had to grit their teeth, locked in their homes, relying on government food distributions for sustenance, and very random online orders. After further tightening the restrictions in early May, the city’s municipality announced on April 16 the gradual deconfinement of the city within a fortnight. A course that she was able to hold thanks to the steady decline in cases.