Shanghai eases Covid curbs as China’s policy shift expands

Bloomberg

Shanghai eased some of its Covid restrictions, joining other top-tier Chinese cities as authorities expand a shift towards reopening the economy after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets last weekend to voice their anger at China’s Covid policies.
The financial hub will scrap PCR testing requirements to enter outdoor public venues such as parks as well as ride public transit effective from Monday, the city said in a statement.
Measures will “continue to be optimised and adjusted” in line with national policy and the situation, according to the statement.
Shanghai, which saw a grueling two-month lockdown earlier in the year, joins other Chinese metropolises such as Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou in relaxing curbs in recent days.
Top government officials in the past week have signalled a transition away from the harshest containment measures, which have weighed on the economy and triggered anti-lockdown protests as public discontent grew.
China reported 30,889 new local Covid cases on December 3, down from 32,206 the day before, according to the latest official data.
A number of provincial capital cities also announced they would relax restrictions over the weekend. Kunming, in the southwestern province of Yunnan, was expected to allow people as of Sunday to ride public transport without showing a PCR test, while Nanning in the neighbouring Guangxi region scrapped such testing requirements for all public venues except hotels and tourist destinations.
In Urumqi, where a fire that killed more than 10 people last month triggered anti-lockdown protests, skiing venues and a pedestrian street have reopened, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and entertainment businesses like gyms will also resume normal operations on Monday as conditions are now ripe for
“normalised” Covid containment measures, according to the CCTV report that cited a local government briefing.
While the easing measures in cities can’t be interpreted as China abandoning its Covid Zero policy yet, “we see them as clear evidence of the Chinese government preparing for an exit, and trying to minimise the economic and social cost of Covid control in the meantime,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s chief China economist Hui Shan and colleagues wrote in a note.
Goldman Sachs’ base case scenario suggests China’s Covid Zero policy will stay until April to allow for preparations, according to the note.