Cases found in Shanghai after 5 days of ‘zero COVID’

Shanghai reported its first new COVID-19 cases outside a quarantined area in five days. 

City officials said that three new cases were found in the same family in Qingpu district, and that all had taken three doses of vaccine. 

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The members had not left their district town over the past 14 days but had visited at least four places.

Those locations, including a supermarket, were sealed off and being disinfected. 

The area’s more than 200,000 people were tested for the virus again and all results were negative. 

The city government said plans to reopen the largest city in China remained on track. 

Suburban parks are set to open on Sunday, as well as four of Shanghai’s 20 subway lines.

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The director of the Shanghai Transport Commission, Yu Fulin, said 273 bus lines would restart. 

Up until recently, most of the city’s 25 million residents remain confined indoors or in communities, although more people have recently been allowed to leave their homes. 

Residential compounds have issued a limited number of passes for walks or trips to the supermarket, though protective measures are still in place.

The weeks-long lockdown in Shanghai and Beijing’s “zero-COVID” strategy have drawn international criticism. 

Many residents reported shortages of food and critical medicine.

All of this comes as the nation’s capital works to slow the spread of the virus there, suspending transportation and encouraging residents to work from home. 

Some residential communities in Beijing are under lockdown and people have been warned to avoid traveling between city districts.

Reuters contributed to this report.