Beijing: Millions of people in the Chinese megacity of Chengdu emerged from a Covid-19 lockdown that had closed schools, disrupted businesses and forced residents to stay home for over two weeks.

With a population of 21 million, southwest China’s Chengdu is the largest Chinese city to shut down since global finance hub Shanghai imposed a strict two-month lockdown in April.

China is the last major economy welded to a zero-Covid strategy and officials are under pressure to curb virus flare-ups swiftly ahead of a key political meeting in mid-October.

“With the joint efforts of the whole city, the epidemic has been effectively controlled,” the Chengdu government said in a statement on Sunday.

Government departments, public transport services and companies were able to resume work yesterday, the statement said, after shutting down on Sept 1.

Chengdu will continue to conduct mass testing, and anyone who wants to enter a public area or take public transport will require a negative Covid test result within 72 hours - similar to the rules in other large cities including Beijing and Shanghai.

 - AFP