Pandemic-hit Shanghai, China"s financial hub, unveiled more post-lockdown plans on Thursday as it moves towards a return to normalcy, but a country-wide economic recovery is still a distance away, heightening a sense of urgency for more support. Shanghai, set to officially emerge from a lockdown on June 1, has been cautiously easing COVID-19 curbs, allowing more of its population to venture out and putting more cars and vehicles back on its once busy streets, Reuters reported. Officials in the city said on Thursday that students in junior and senior high school can return to offline classes from June 6, following word earlier in the week that shopping malls and department stores will be allowed to reopen, although in batches, from June 1. The city of 25 million people reported on Thursday that it had 338 new locally transmitted infections for May 25, the lowest since mid-March and a far cry from tens of thousands at the peak of its outbreak in April. Offering a grim view of the world"s second-biggest economy, Premier Li Keqiang said on Wednesday that economic difficulties in some aspects were even bigger than in 2020 when the country was first hit by the COVID-19 outbreak. Many private-sector economists expect gross domestic product to contract in April-June from a year earlier versus the first quarter"s 4.8% growth. China will strive to achieve "reasonable" GDP growth in the second quarter, Li told thousands of government officials across China in an online conference. — Agencies