Shanghai to lift lockdown restrictions on June 1

Shanghai on Monday announced an end to its two-month long COVID-19 lockdown, allowing the vast majority of people in China’s largest city to leave their homes and drive their cars from Wednesday.

The news brought an outpouring of relief, joy and some wariness from exhausted residents.

“I’m so emotional that I’m going to cry,” said one Weibo user.

Most of the city’s 25 million residents have been confined to their homes for almost all of the lockdown which began on April 1, with curbs only slightly relaxing in recent weeks to allow some to go out for short periods of time.

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Local authorities had earlier this month said they planned to fully restore normal life by next month but it had not been clear how they would carry that out amid an insistence on sticking to China’s zero-COVID policy.

COVID LOCKDOWN IN CHINA’S LARGEST CITY NEARING END

Some residents greeted the news with disbelief, reflecting on how what was originally supposed to be a lockdown lasting five days that became a much longer than anticipated ordeal.

“Please don’t be lying to me,” one person said on social media. “I’m numb,” said another.