China's Shenzhen lift citywide lockdown, says situation ‘under control’

Shenzhen city officials will allow government agencies and companies to resume normal operations and production, the notice said, and citywide bus and subway services will also resume.

The Chinese city of Shenzhen has lifted a week-long lockdown - while retaining some restrictions - as city officials say the spread of the coronavirus is 'coming under control'. Bloomberg said that in a notice posted on WeChat (a Chinese messaging service) Sunday, the Shenzhen administration said 'while the city's Covid situation is still grim, the spread within the community has stopped and is, overall, controllable'.

A worker wearing protective gear looks on as people wait to be tested for the Covid-19 coronavirus at a residential compound in Shanghai. (AFP)

City officials will allow government agencies and companies to resume normal operations and production, the notice said, and citywide bus and subway services will also resume.

Factories will also be allowed to resume work. Shenzhen is home to some of China's biggest companies including telecom giant Huawei.

The notice comes after three rounds of citywide testing, state broadcaster CCTV said, and is effective between March 21 and 27.

Eight days ago Shenzhen - a finance and technology center of nearly 18 million people that is near Hong Kong, where too cases have spiked - was locked down after China reported a surge in Covid cases driven by the highly transmissible omicron variant.

All bus and subway systems were shut, as were businesses (except those providing emergency services) and people were encouraged to work from home.

China's overall case numbers are low, compared to other countries in South East Asia, but the Xi Jinping government's 'zero tolerance' strategy has resulted in swift measures to stamp out potential outbreaks, including shuttering major cities like Shenzhen and Shanghai.

The Chinese mainland reported 2,027 new cases on Sunday, up from the previous day’s 1,737.

XI Jinping has said China will 'seek to minimise economic and social disruption to the economy from its 'Covid zero' policy'.

On Friday, China reported its first Covid-19 deaths since January 2021 as the highly contagious omicron variant spreads across the country. According to the National Health Commission, the deaths were reported in Jilin.

Globally, Covid-19-related deaths have plunged by a fifth despite the resurgence of the pandemic; AFP reports the average number of daily infections increased by 12 per cent worldwide in a week.