By Ebi Kesiena
In Chinese cites and Beijing businesses reopened and testing requirements were relaxed on Monday as the country tentatively eases out of a strict zero-Covid policy that sparked nationwide protests.
Local authorities across China have begun a slow rollback of the restrictions that have governed daily life for years, encouraged by the central government’s orders for a new approach to fighting the coronavirus.
In the capital Beijing, where many businesses have fully reopened, commuters from Monday were no longer required to show a negative virus test taken within 48 hours to use public transport.
Financial hub Shanghai which underwent a brutal two-month lockdown this year was under the same rules, with residents able to enter outdoor venues such as parks and tourist attractions without a recent test.
Neighboring Hangzhou went a step further, ending regular mass testing for its 10 million people, except for those living in or visiting nursing homes, schools and kindergartens.
In the northwestern city of Urumqi, where a fire that killed 10 people became the catalyst for the recent anti-lockdown protests, supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and ski resorts reopened on Monday.
The city of more than four million in the far-western Xinjiang region endured one of China’s longest lockdowns, with some areas shut from August until November.
Authorities in the central city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019, and Shandong province scrapped the testing requirement for public transport on Sunday.
And Zhengzhou home to the world’s largest iPhone factory on Sunday said people would be allowed to enter public places, take public transport and enter their residential compounds without a 48-hour negative test result.
