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Beijing reopens some public transport, malls and parks

STORY: The districts of Fangshan and Shunyi will end work-from-home rules, while public transport will largely resume in the two districts as well as in Chaoyang, the city's largest. Still, restaurant dining remains banned city-wide.

“I haven’t any plans yet, because I am not sure when we will be completely free from this pandemic, right now the situation has only gotten a bit better." said Beijing resident Wu Fan.

China's economy has shown signs of recovering its heartbeat this month following April's slump, but activity levels are weaker than last year and many analysts expect a second-quarter contraction.

The strength and sustainability of any recovery will depend largely on COVID, with the highly transmissible Omicron variant proving hard to exterminate and prone to comebacks.