Cheers, upbeat music and firecrackers were heard across Xiasha Community in Futian District on Tuesday night as excited residents celebrated their freedom as the COVID lockdown was lifted after 15 days.
Xiasha in Shatou Subdistrict was designated as a control area for COVID-19 on Feb. 22 and later got upgraded as a lockdown area, where residents must stay at home and door-to-door delivery services had been provided since Mar. 1.
The lockdown restrictions were lifted at 10 p.m. Tuesday and the whole community was declared a prevention area from 12:01 a.m. yesterday, according to a notice by the district’s COVID prevention and control headquarters.
A number of communities in Shatou, the worst-hit subdistrict by COVID in Futian, were downgraded as prevention areas from lockdown areas starting Tuesday, including part of Shangsha, Jindi, Xinhua and Xinzhou, according to the notice.
As a result, residents can leave their homes and residential compounds with community-issued passes and negative nucleic acid test results obtained within 24 hours in the first four days and 48 hours starting the fifth day. But gatherings are still strictly limited.
In the community, wholesale markets, leisure and entertainment venues, and tutoring organizations remain closed. Dine-in services are banned at eateries, cashless payments are encouraged in supermarkets and wet markets and deliverymen are prohibited from entering the community.
Late Tuesday night, people were seen screaming, strolling at a community square, and setting off fireworks. A long queue of cars waited behind parking barriers and sped out as soon as the complex’s doors opened at the stroke of 10.
Huang, a young pregnant woman, walked out to go shopping yesterday.
“I am definitely delighted at the news. Last night indeed feels like Chinese New Year’s Eve,” she said.
Another mother surnamed Chen couldn’t wait to take a breath of fresh air with her 1-year-old daughter. Her child seemed much more excited than her.
Chen said they were stranded in the complex for a half month. “It is so nice that the lockdown has been lifted. Getting quarantined at home might be tolerable for adults, but my child could not stand it,” Chen said.
Shenzhen reported six new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases Tuesday, two of which were found in other parts of Futian rather than Shatou. All the new cases were found among quarantined close contacts of patients confirmed earlier and in key groups.
Meanwhile, two Metro stations – Line 9’s Xiasha Station and Line 7’s Shawei Station – resumed operation yesterday.