SHANGHAI ¨C Following two months of frustration, despair and economic loss, Shanghai¡¯s draconian COVID-19 lockdown ended Wednesday, prompting celebrations tempered with fear that an outbreak could return.
Most of Shanghai¡¯s 25 million residents can now freely leave home, return to work, use public transport and drive their cars ¡ª a moment that for many in China¡¯s largest and most cosmopolitan city felt like it would never arrive.
At midnight, small groups gathered in the city¡¯s former French Concession neighborhood whistled, shouted ¡°ban lifted¡± and clinked glasses of champagne.
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