Coronavirus: Shanghai Covid cases remain at zero outside quarantine zones for fourth day, putting city on path towards normalcy

The fourth straight day without new infections in unguarded zones means the city maintains the societal zero-Covid status it first achieved on Tuesday

Total new cases rose for the first time in five days, by 3.8 per cent, but the number of people living in fully sealed off compounds declined 8 per cent to 790,000

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Workers in protective suits disinfect a closed residential area during lockdown in Shanghai on May 17, 2022. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:26pm, 18 May 2022Updated: 1:06pm, 31 May 2022

Shanghai has reached four straight days without new Covid-19 infections in its low-risk, unguarded zones, according to data released on Wednesday morning, keeping the city on a path toward a return to normalcy by the end of June.

The lack of new cases in these zones means the city maintains its long-pursued societal zero-Covid status across its 16 districts, a watershed achievement officials first declared on Tuesday.

“The good news is that no positive cases were discovered in Shanghai’s unguarded zones for the fourth day,” said Zhang Chaoyue, an analyst with Northeast Securities. “The city maintained the status of societal zero-Covid.”

However, total new cases over the last 24 hours rose for the first time in five days, adding 3.8 per cent to 854. Symptomatic cases also increased, for the second consecutive day, to 96 – a 24.7 per cent increase from a day earlier. Three patients died.

A view of Shanghai’s Yangshan Deep Water Port, the world’s busiest container port, on May 17, 2022. Photo: Xinhua.

These increases provided a reminder that the risk of a resurgence remains and appears to justify the measured approach to easing restrictions that officials have outlined.

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