China's Shenyang Lifts 'Lockdown-Style Epidemic Control'... Indoor Crowded Facilities Resume Operations

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Choi] The quarantine authorities in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, China, announced on the 5th that they will lift the "lockdown-style quarantine."

The quarantine authorities announced on the same day, "Starting from 0:00 on the 6th, the reopening of indoor crowded facilities such as saunas, beauty salons, and pubs will be permitted."

They also stopped verifying negative PCR test certificates when boarding city buses and subways or purchasing antipyretics at online and offline pharmacies.

Shenyang is the provincial capital of Liaoning Province and a logistics hub for the three northeastern provinces (Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang). As COVID-19 spread, they implemented lockdown-style quarantine measures including suspension of business operations from the 24th of last month. Although dining inside restaurants was allowed from the 1st, regulations on indoor crowded facilities had been maintained.

Dandong, the largest trade hub between North Korea and China, also stopped the PCR mass testing that had been conducted for over a month on the same day.

It is expected that Dandong will soon announce quarantine easing measures such as allowing dining inside restaurants and reopening indoor crowded facilities.

Following the central quarantine authorities' shift in COVID-19 response, cities like Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai have successively announced quarantine easing measures, but the northeastern region including Shenyang maintained strict quarantine, causing dissatisfaction among residents.