“There were no confirmed locally transmitted Covid-19 cases and no new local asymptomatic infections in Shanghai on June 24, 2022,” the city said in a statement.

China is the last major economy to still stick to a "zero Covid" strategy aimed at eliminating all spread through massive testing, targeted lockdowns and long quarantines.

China's economic capital was shut down for several months, after a spike in infections fueled by the highly contagious Omicron variant.

Despite the theoretical lifting of containment in early June, the 25 million inhabitants of Shanghai have had to wait for a return to normal life because of new restrictions by neighborhoods with each appearance of new cases.

Millions of residents were locked down again two weeks ago after a government-ordered mass screening campaign.

A risky strategy

China assures that its “zero Covid” policy is necessary to avoid a health catastrophe, with authorities particularly concerned about the unequal distribution of medical resources and the low rate of vaccination among the elderly population.

But the strategy has damaged the world's second-largest economy, and the strict enforcement of the law has also sparked protests, as well as encouraged the departure of foreign companies and middle-class families.

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