Visitors enter Shanghai Disneytown in Shanghai Disney Resort after they reopened on June 16, 2022. It was also the 6th anniversary of the opening of the resort (See story on Page 9). Photo: cnsphoto

 

The tale of two cities in China - Beijing and Shanghai - sees final curtain come down on the latest epidemic fight as the two metropolises emerge from the month-long Omicron shadow, with both registering zero new infections on Monday, authorities announced on Tuesday.

The Chinese capital spent 19 days taming a fresh COVID spike, mostly centered around the Heaven Supermarket bar-related cluster infection that was first detected on June 9. In less than 72 hours, the infections were found spreading across 14 districts and Beijing's Economic-Technological Development Area, posing an "unprecedented challenge and test" to Beijing's anti-epidemic response with its dense population and a the fast transmission speed, China Youth Daily reported. 

In the following five days from June 10-14, daily new infections exceeded 50. As of Tuesday, the total infection number has reached 398. 

The bar-related outbreak belonged to the same transmission chain found in the previous flare-up that started from April 22 and traced down to two home decorators from the city's Shunyi district, which reported a total of 1,831 infected cases. 

In light of the improved situation, Beijing authorities announced the resumption of in-person classes. Primary and middle school students in the city who have been staying at home taking online classes for nearly two months due to the resurgence of COVID-19, returned to campus under the light drizzle of Monday, following strict epidemic prevention and control measures. 

The theme park Universal Beijing Resort also reopened to visitors on Saturday, albeit at limited capacity, after a hiatus of nearly two months. Ticket sale platform data showed that bookings for the theme park outpaced those of all other parks in China, underlying the popularity of the resort as well as the accelerated recovery of the tourism sector in Beijing after the virus was brought under control.

The Shanghai Disney Resort, the other most-loved theme park in China besides the Beijing Universal Resort, also announced it will reopen on Thursday, and tickets will be available for sale from Wednesday. Strengthened health and safety measures will be in place once the resort reopens. 

On Monday Beijing's Party chief Cai Qi said at the 13th Party Congress of Beijing that the city vowed to make unremitting efforts on regular epidemic prevention and control, and to unswervingly adhere to a dynamic zero COVID-19 policy by implementing "early detection, early reporting, early quarantine and early treatment."

Shanghai, having walked out of the shadow of a three-month-long Omicron wave, also announced on Sunday the resumption of dine-in services in communities starting from Wednesday, as long as the communities where the restaurants are in are not located in medium-risk areas and no new infections have been reported within a week.

By imposing a two-month citywide lockdown that was lifted on June 1, Shanghai authorities finally declared victory against the latest round of the outbreak, following two consecutive days of zero new infections reported in the city.

Global Times