"Take Shanghai, for example. We've taken strict measures in order to think about the big picture of the entire country, including the municipality itself, to get back to normal in the long term," he said on Sunday.

Shanghai's health authority said that more than 3,000 people who tested positive for COVID-19were released from medical observation on Sunday after recovering. It was the highest number of COVID patients released in a single day, since the current outbreak started in March.