BEIJING/SHANGHA, June 28 (Reuters) – Beijing and Shanghai recorded no local cases of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 on Monday, authorities said on Tuesday. This is the first time since the end of February that the two Chinese metropolises, which have imposed very severe health restrictions in recent months, simultaneously report the total absence of local infection.
Beijing and Shanghai had already seen the number of daily cases fall below 10 last week, which has allowed the gradual reopening of Shanghai restaurants and that of some Beijing leisure centers.
The Disneyland theme park in Shanghai, closed since March 21, announced on Tuesday that it would reopen on June 30.
Shanghai Communist Party leader Li Qiang said on Saturday authorities had “won the war to defend Shanghai” against COVID-19, after two months of a strict citywide lockdown finally lifted in early June.
Local authorities, however, remain cautious, insisting on maintaining the “zero COVID” policy, which aims to extinguish epidemic outbreaks as soon as they appear. (Repotage Ryan Woo, Roxanne Liu, Kevin Huang and the Shangha office; French version Dagmarah Mackos, said by Jean-Stphane Brosse)