Shanghai Allows 4 Million Outside For First Time In Weeks As New COVID Cases Dip Below 20K

After roughly 4 weeks of intense lockdown measures that have left Shanghai's 25+ million people scrambling for necessary supplies like food and medicine, local authorities have loosened lockdown measures on Wednesday, allowing 4 million people out of their homes for the first time since the lockdown - initially imposed as a 9 day 'staggered' lockdown - began.

Health official Wu Ganyu said the virus was "under effective control" for the first time in weeks in some parts of the city, according to the AP.

Under the latest changes, which shifted the status of parts of the city from "closed" to "controlled", people are allowed to leave their neighborhoods, but large gatherings are still banned.

On Wednesday, China's CHC reported 19,927 new cases in China’s mainland, including 2,761 of which had no symptoms. That  marked the first time in nearly two weeks that China's daily tally had dipped below 20K new cases. Shanghai accounted for 95% of the total, or 18,902 cases, of which 2,495 had symptoms.