Chinese metropolis Guangzhou partially lifts lockdown

Traffic and indoor dining resumed, and shopping malls reopened in the Haizhu district of the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou, after the government announced the easing of some COVID-19 restrictions on Wednesday afternoon. Guangzhou, a city of 13 million people, is the biggest of a series of coronavirus hot spots across China with outbreaks since early October.

Lockdown barricades were taken down, and testing sites that usually saw long lines of residents were empty on Thursday. Other major Chinese cities, including Shijiazhuang in the north, Chengdu in the southwest also announced they were easing testing requirements and controls on movement. On Thursday, the government reported 36,061 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours.