Shanghai Begins Second Phase Of Lockdown

Shanghai authorities on Friday reported a slight drop in local Covid-19 cases as its 10-day lockdown moves into its second phase.

The city had been expected to lift the lockdown east of the Huangpu River on Friday morning.

Instead, it announced that the curbs would be lifted in phases, depending on how many cases had been found in a neighbourhood.

However, the lockdown was extended to the Puxi district west of the river as planned. It will remain in place for five days.

Shanghai health officials promised to speed up testing and called for understanding as they reported 368 local symptomatic cases and 4,144 asymptomatic cases for the day.

That compares with 355 symptomatic and 5,298 asymptomatic cases on Thursday.

Officials also announced that they are strengthening the policy to prevent "unnecessary" outbound travel.

From Saturday, anyone leaving Shanghai will have to provide a negative result of an antigen test they took in the past 24 hours, on top of a current requirement for a negative PCR test result obtained in the past 48 hours.

But they said those who have a negative PCR test result obtained in the past 24 hours are exempt from the new rule.

Authorities said they will begin checking people’s test results at airports, ports, railway stations and highways. Those who cannot provide relevant proof will not be allowed to leave the city.

The National Health Commission, meanwhile, reported 1,787 local symptomatic cases across the country, compared with 1,803 cases on Thursday.

More than one-third of the symptomatic cases were reported from the Jilin province.

The number of local asymptomatic cases nationwide dropped from 6,651 on Thursday to 5,442 cases.

Guangdong reported 18 local cases in total.