Shanghai’s long and brutal COVID lockdown is coming to an end, according to civic officials who warn the city’s re-opening won’t happen overnight.

Instead, the Chinese financial and manufacturing hub will gradually begin reopening businesses such as shopping malls and hair salons, the city’s vice-mayor says.

Shanghai, which has been locked down for more than six weeks, is in the midst of a recent tightening in some areas that it hopes marks a final push in its battle to totally eliminate the coronavirus.

Shopping malls, department stores and supermarkets will begin resuming in-store operations and allow customers to shop in “an orderly way” from Monday, while hair salons and vegetable markets will reopen with limited capacity, Vice-Mayor Chen Tong said on Sunday.

During Shanghai’s lockdown, residents have been limited to purchasing necessities, with normal shopping on online platforms largely suspended.

During the stricken city’s extended ordeal those residents suspected of being infected were taken from the homes and concentrated in makeshift “hospitals” where there was little medical care and complaints about scarce meals.

At the height of the lockdown the hospitalised also lost their pets, which were confiscated and sometimes beaten to death before their owners’ horrified eyes.

-with AAP