- Saudi crown prince says no Israel ties without Palestinian state
- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ |
Shanghai starts easing lockdown in some neighbourhoods
Shanghai eased restrictions on some neighbourhoods Monday after mounting outcry over inflexible Covid-19 rules that have locked down 25 million people, caused food shortages and left thousands in quarantine.
Authorities said they would gradually begin to allow those in areas with the least number of virus cases to leave their communities, although it was unclear how many people will be allowed out of their homes or when.
China has stuck to a policy of "zero Covid", aiming to eliminate infections through rigid lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions.
Shanghai has been placed under some of the most severe measures since the virus emerged in Wuhan in 2019, with a strict lockdown leaving many struggling to get enough food and thousands sent to centralised quarantine centres.
Officials said they would categorise communities across the city into three levels based on the number of infections.
"Differentiated prevention and control (measures)" would refect the "actual circumstances" on the ground, Shanghai official Gu Honghui said Monday, in a move that appeared aimed at defanging rising anger over authorities' handling of the virus.
Those in "closed control areas" or "controlled management areas" would continue to be locked down in their homes or limited to their compounds.
Residential communities which have recorded no cases in the past 14 days will allow residents to leave their homes.
But as the news filtered across Shanghai, residents scrambled to decipher the precise details from their neighbourhood committees.
One southern district which falls into the category for the lowest number of cases said it would now allow residents out once a day to buy supplies.
State news agency Xinhua said people in the least restricted areas would be "allowed in principle" to move inside their sub-districts with "strict restrictions on the scale of gathering."
Shanghai resident Chris Miller said he had been told he was now free to leave the maternity centre where he has been staying with his wife since the birth of their son shortly before lockdown.
"I was the first of our building to go out," he told AFP.
"There’s basically nothing open. I went to a pharmacy and... a lot of shelves had been picked clean but there were a few things I needed that I was able to pick up."
He said the streets were very empty but he planned to go out again.
"One of the other fathers here wants to go out for some beer," he said.
The move appeared to divide opinions online, with some expressing concerns about spreading the virus further in the community.
But one resident posted pictures of a small queue forming at the gate to her community as residents waited to be let out.
Another unverified video showed a couple hugging in the middle of a car-less road as relieved residents started to wander around the street.
There were 27,509 new cases reported in China on Monday -- the vast majority in Shanghai.
M.Furrer--BTB