Yahoo Finance

By David Stanway and Roxanne Liu

SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) -Shanghai took more gradual steps on Friday towards lifting its COVID-19 lockdown while Beijing was investigating cases where its strict curbs were affecting other medical treatments as China soldiered on with its uneven exit from restrictions.

The financial hub and the capital have been hot spots, with a harsh two-month lockdown to arrest a coronavirus spike in Shanghai and tight movement restrictions to stamp out a small but stubborn outbreak in Beijing.

Elsewhere, some border areas in the northeastern province of Jilin reported transmissions of the virus with an unclear source. Jilin borders Russia and North Korea, which has imposed a nationwide COVID lockdown.

The curbs have battered the world's second-biggest economy even as most countries have been seeking to return to something like normal. Many Chinese, from the urban youth to low-skilled rural migrant workers, have complained about lost income, difficulty sourcing food and mental stress.

China's economy is staggering back to its feet but data shows only a grinding and partial recovery, with businesses from retailers to chipmakers warning of slow sales as domestic consumers slam the brakes on spending.

Electricity consumption by Shanghai's large industrial enterprises rose steadily in the first three weeks of May to 83% of 2021 levels, Ruan Qiantu, head of the city's branch of the State Grid, told reporters.

The utility will work to avoid outages as demand recovers and the summer consumption peak approaches, Ruan said. "We are actively responding to the demands of enterprises."

As Shanghai, China's most populous city, aims to essentially end its lockdown from Wednesday, the authorities have been allowing more people out of their homes and more businesses to reopen over the past week. But most residents remain confined to their compounds and most shops can only do deliveries.

The district of Pudong, home to the Port of Shanghai, the city's largest airport and its main finance centre, reopened 115 bus routes on Friday. Shanghai is slowly expanding public transport after reopening four of its 20 subway lines and more than 250 bus routes on Sunday.

More than 30 parks had reopened as of Thursday, with visitor numbers capped below 50% of their maximum capacity, the Shanghai Daily reported. By Tuesday 70 more parks will reopen.

China hopes that a new approach of relentless, blanket testing might help other cities avoid more damaging, Shanghai-like measures by detecting outbreaks early.