Shanghai recorded an increase in COVID-19-related incidents on Saturday March 26, but a member of the city's workers' union said workers had decided to waive the full shutdown for damage to businesses.
Although the number of millions of Chinese living in the affected areas is still small compared to other countries, infections transmitted by Omicron have caused the entire city to shut down, with daily cases increasing more than ever.
However, Shanghai is aiming to reduce interference with a larger focus, marked by 48-hour shutdowns and large-scale personal trials, while still operating in the metropolitan area of 25 million people. .
In a meeting with the Shanghai Daily on Saturday, officials stressed the importance of avoiding the closure of all major ports in the city.
"If our city Shanghai is completed, more international cargo ships will float in the East China Sea," said Wu Pan, a doctor with the Shanghai Epidemic Control Unit. "It will affect the whole national economy and the global economy."
Wu spoke of the latest signing as the government expanded its response to spread everywhere, as city officials announced they would start distributing self-testing kits to Shanghai residents.
The northeastern province of Jilin also announced on Saturday that it had started rapidly distributing 500,000 antigenic substrates.
Shanghai and Jilin were the areas most affected by the incident in early March.
China has brought the coronavirus, which first emerged in Wuhan in late 2019, under control through strict resistance measures.
However, the above approach has been questioned more frequently as there have been concerns about the economic and public impact of "widespread epidemics", particularly given the worsening symptoms of Omicron.
China's National Institutes of Health announced two weeks ago that they would be the first to introduce the sale of rapid antigen self-testing kits in China, and they have started rolling out in pharmacies.
However, Saturday's announcement appears to be the first time it has been widely used as part of controlling the spread of the disease.
China on Saturday confirmed 5,600 new cases nationwide, most of them asymptomatic.
Police in China have expressed concern over the death of the Hong Kong Omicron, which has sparked fears of purchases and the destruction of unarmed elderly people in the south of the city.
Since then, it has spread to mainland China, creating problems for police competition with them to be much tighter. Shanghai epidemiologist Zhang Wenhong argued on Wednesday that managing "normal life" should be equated with preventive measures.
Comments from his blog-based follower show patient patience for the final questions about the shutdown.
Shanghai's softer strategy has so far failed to prevent the escalation of events, and local shutdowns have caused online outcry and grocery sales in some areas.
Shanghai reported on Saturday that the number of new cases in the country had risen to 2,269. That is equivalent to 40% of the country's total.