Shanghai promises to improve food supplies, trade

Officials in Shanghai have promised to ease anti-virus controls on truck drivers that are hampering food supplies and trade, while city streets are still largely empty after millions of people were allowed out of their homes

Officials in Shanghai promised Friday to ease anti-virus controls on truck drivers that are hampering food supplies and trade, while city streets were still largely empty after millions of people were allowed out of their homes.

The deputy mayor, Zhang Wei, promised “every effort” to resolve problems that prompted complaints about lack of food and fears that the shutdown, which barred most of Shanghai's 25 million people from going outdoors, might disrupt global trade.

The streets of China's most populous city were quiet despite an easing of restrictions beginning from April 13, that has released more than 10 million people. Many were barred from leaving their neighborhoods. Others had nowhere to go because most factories, shops and offices were closed.

In one neighborhood, a woman rode a skateboard and a couple took a child's photo outside a park. Delivery drivers rode past on scooters while government employees in white suits sprayed disinfectant on trash bags.

“You can only walk the dog,” said resident Isabella Kao, who cannot leave her apartment compound because nearby areas are quarantined. “There’s no point in going out because all your stores are closed.”

On Friday, the government reported 11 coronavirus deaths and 17,529 new cases in Shanghai. All but 1,931 had no symptoms. Shanghai accounted for 95% of the 18,598 new cases on China's mainland, of which 2,133 had symptoms.

Shanghai leaders are scrambling to ease the impact of a “zero-COVID-19” strategy that shut down most businesses from March 28.