Manufacturers including Tesla have begun preparing to reopen their Shanghai plants as China’s most populous city speeds up efforts to get back to normal after a nearly three-week COVID shutdown.
The shutdown and measures to control the pandemic elsewhere in the country have hurt the economy and rattled global supply chains.
Shanghai’s 25 million people have struggled with income losses, lack of steady food supplies, separation of families and poor conditions in quarantine centres.
Tesla has recalled workers to its Shanghai plant to prepare for the restart, two sources told Reuters. SAIC Motor, the Chinese partner of Volkswagen and General Motors, said it would start stress-testing its own production resumption plans on Monday.
Meanwhile, Shanghai aims to stop spread of COVID-19 outside of quarantined areas by Wednesday, Reuters cited sources as saying on Sunday, an ambitious target that would allow further easing of its lockdown.