Shanghai lockdown: city finds three new community infections even as death toll falls to zero, as path to reopening is lined with risks

New cases rose 19.3 per cent to 858 in the past 24 hours, according to data released on Friday

Symptomatic cases rose 7.3 per cent to 88, while the death toll fell to zero for the first time in more than a month

2-MIN READ2-MIN

A lone cyclist on a near-empty street during a Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown in the Jing’an district in Shanghai on May 19, 2022. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:44am, 20 May 2022Updated: 1:06pm, 31 May 2022

Shanghai found three community infections across the city of 25 million residents, even as the death toll fell to zero for the first time since April 18, underscoring how the city’s journey towards reopening on June 1 is still paved with risks.

New cases rose 19.3 per cent to 858 in the past 24 hours, according to data released on Friday. Symptomatic cases rose 7.3 per cent to 88, while the death toll fell to zero for the first time in more than a month.

Faced with the mixed results, Shanghai’s health authorities are not letting up, even if more manufacturers and public services have been allowed to resume operations.

“We still face a tough task of curbing the pandemic and preventing a resurgence of the outbreak,” Zhao Dandan, deputy director of Shanghai health commission, told a press briefing on Friday. “Residents must keep up efforts to guard against the virus.”

A worker in a protective suit sorts vegetables in a shopping trolley, at a reopened Carrefour supermarket amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai on May 19, 2022. Photo: Reuters

It was the first time in six days that Shanghai discovered new infections in low-risk, unguarded zones, a setback for local officials who aimed to limit new cases to only people in quarantine.