Shanghai to ease some COVID testing requirements from June 1

A medical worker in a protective suit looks at a shop window at a main shopping area during lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Shanghai, China, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song

Shanghai will ease COVID-19 testing requirements from June 1 for people who want to enter public areas or use public transport to encourage work resumption and a return to normal life, a city official said on Sunday.

From June 1, people entering public venues or taking public transportation will need to show a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours, versus 48 hours previously, said Yin Xin, a government spokeswoman for Shanghai in a press briefing.

There will be no testing changes, however, for people who want to leave the city.

A worker wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) sprays disinfectant next to people lining up to get tested at a makeshift nucleic acid testing site amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Beijing, China May 27, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

People who want to leave Shanghai will still need to show a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours and a negative antigen test within 24 hours. As before, they will be exempted from taking an antigen test if they can show a negative PCR test from the last 24 hours, Yin said.

The adjustments to the testing requirements were made to "promote epidemic prevention and control as well as economic and social development, and resume work and a return to normal life," she said.

A man crouches on a roadblock at a main shopping area during lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Shanghai, China, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song

(Reporting by Brenda Goh, Roxanne Liu and Emily Chow; Editing by Tom Hogue)