The city government of Shanghai issued an order prohibiting companies from discriminating against people who had been previously infected with Covid-19, following reports that some groups had refused to hire some of the tens of thousands of workers who contracted the virus during the city’s two-month lockdown.

In a resolution adopted by the city council, officials prohibited employers from firing employees due to a history of infection with a contagious disease or refusing to hire someone for the same reason.

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The resolution also urged local government and enterprises to stabilise employment in the city of 26 million, where the unemployment rate reached 12.5% in the second quarter as a result of the two-month shutdown in March and April.

Local media and the Internet circulated rumours that businesses, notably in the delivery industry, were refusing to hire or even terminating personnel whose health codes indicated they had previously been infected with Covid.