Shanghai reported eight Covid-19 deaths on Thursday, despite a drop in daily instances and some residents being allowed to go outside under a loosening of the lockdown.

After weeks of restrictions that kept most of its 25 million residents indoors, China’s largest city is slowly reopening.

Faced with the country’s biggest viral outbreak in two years, Shanghai intensified the Communist Party’s zero-Covid campaign, damaging business and morale.

Beijing’s rigid, sequestering response to a virus that much of the world is learning to live with has been tested by the country’s worst epidemic in two years.

China has used a low official viral death rate as proof that its plan is working, even as critics challenge the data’s accuracy.

Shanghai has had over 400,000 infections since March, but just 25 deaths, the first from this outbreak being announced Monday.

According to authorities, it was largely elderly people with underlying diseases that died.

The eight patients reported Thursday had an average age of 77.5 and pre-existing conditions such as malignant tumors and excessive blood pressure.

“Underlying disease“ was the cause of death, according to the

Thursday had over 18,000 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases in Shanghai, the second day with fewer than 20,000 infections.

This week, 666 firms like Tesla and Volkswagen are expected to resume production as the outbreak appears to be over.

Around 12 million people, previously confined to their houses, have been allowed to go outside in recent days.

In spite of being freed from the most severe form of lockdown, where residents were banned from leaving their apartments, many were upset.

Throughout Shanghai’s closure, complaints flooded Weibo, revealing rare glimpses of unhappiness typically censored.

While officials lifted some obstacles, several homeowners griped online about policy and enforcement while workers reinforced barriers outside their apartment buildings.

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