Near the end of March, in the face of a growing COVID-19 outbreak, officials in Shanghai instituted strict lockdown controls, the start of what would become two months of tight restrictions imposed on 25 million residents. Now, following a decline in COVID-19 cases, those same authorities say they are taking steps toward reopening China’s largest city. Barriers that fenced in neighborhoods are coming down, and residents are cautiously venturing out into parks and shopping areas. Gathered below are images from the past few weeks of lockdown, and early signs of Shanghai’s reopening.
The End of Shanghai’s Two-Month COVID Lockdown
- Alan Taylor
- May 31, 2022
- 22 Photos
- In Focus
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Workers in protective suits stand in a closed residential area during lockdown in Shanghai, China, on May 23, 2022. #
Aly Song / Reuters -
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A gate is blocked by a pile of bicycles from a bike-sharing service in Shanghai on May 13, 2022. #
Aly Song / Reuters -
A child wearing a protective face mask holds a cat behind a barrier along a street in Shanghai on May 31, 2022. #
Aly Song / Reuters -
A man takes a picture on an empty Shanghai street during lockdown on May 26, 2022. #
Aly Song / Reuters -
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Workers wearing protective gear unload boxes from a truck during a COVID-19 lockdown in the Jing'an district of Shanghai on May 13, 2022. #
Hector Retamal / AFP / Getty -
A worker in a protective suit looks through an opening in a barrier near a rack for deliveries on May 31, 2022. #
Aly Song / Reuters -
Shanghai residents look out through a gate blocking the entrance to a residential area under lockdown on May 22, 2022. #
Aly Song / Reuters -
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A worker in a protective suit rests in a Shanghai street on May 31, 2022. #
Aly Song / Reuters -
A man gets a haircut on a street next to a barrier in a locked-down neighborhood in the Jing'an district on May 30, 2022. #
Hector Retamal / AFP / Getty -
This photo taken on May 10, 2022, shows a Shanghai resident looking out from a window during a COVID-19 lockdown. #
Hector Retamal / AFP / Getty -
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A resident peers over a barrier that blocks a residential area on May 16, 2022. #
Aly Song / Reuters -
A health worker makes a heart with her hands while waiting to take swab samples from people in the Jing' an district on May 31, 2022. #
Hector Retamal / AFP / Getty -
Workers dismantle barriers around a Shanghai neighborhood on May 30, 2022. #
Aly Song / Reuters -
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Residents line up to take nucleic-acid tests for COVID-19 in front of closed shops in the Pudong district on May 30, 2022. #
Liu Jin / AFP / Getty -
People stand next to toppled barriers—first erected on March 19 according to local residents—taken down on the afternoon of May 31, 2022, in the Jing'an district. #
Hector Retamal / AFP / Getty -
A boy runs over fallen barrier sections in the Jing'an district on May 31, 2022. #
Hector Retamal / AFP / Getty -
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Children wearing protective face masks play in bubbles at a park, as Shanghai prepares to end the lockdown placed to curb the spread of COVID-19, on May 31, 2022. #
Aly Song / Reuters -
People walk near a bridge over the Huangpu River on May 31, 2022. #
Hugo Hu / Getty -
A child wearing protective gear plays with a dog on May 25, 2022, in Shanghai. #
Yves Dean / Getty -
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People pose for pictures at a Shanghai shopping area on May 31, 2022. #
Aly Song / Reuters -
A woman takes photos near the Oriental Pearl Tower on May 31, 2022, in Shanghai. #
Ng Han Guan / AP -
People hug on a street, as Shanghai prepares to end its lockdown on May 31, 2022. #
Aly Song / Reuters -
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