China's Shanghai Eases Some Covid-19 Curbs

China's Shanghai announced scraping some testing measures in the country's latest relaxing of its strict zero-Covid policy following nationwide protests unseen in decades.

Starting from Monday, Shanghai residents will no longer need a 48-hour negative test result to use public transport and enter outdoor venues such as parks and tourist attractions, authorities announced.

This step aligns with familiar decisions taken by Beijing, Tianjin, Shenzhen, and Chengdu, as they all cancelled the testing requirement for public transport on Saturday.

In the same vein, Beijing's local authorities also abandoned real-name registration that had been needed to buy cold and fever medicine.

Meanwhile, the northeastern city of Jinzhou said it would continue to impose lockdowns because "it would be a shame to not achieve zero-Covid when we are able to", before backtracking the next day after public outcry.

Last month, Chinese health authorities released a list of measures designed to "optimize" zero-Covid and minimize its socio-economic impact, but local enforcement of the measures has varied widely.