The streets of Shanghai were seen deserted on Wednesday, following fears of a rapid rise in COVID-19 infections over the winter.

Footage features empty roads, pavements and parks, with business owners closing their stores and an empty metro station and escalators.

"The healthcare system and hospitals are doing okay since the Shanghai government has been doing a good job and people here are not really lacking medication. But I feel like, in a small city, the situation is not optimistic," said one resident, Jia.

China began easing COVID-19 restrictions earlier this month, with rules on quarantine, movement and local lockdowns all loosened.

While the official count of COVID-19 cases remains at around 2,000 a day, the figure no longer includes asymptomatic infections and mass testing has stopped.

With health authorities warning of waves of COVID-19 on the way, there has been high demand for medication.

"There are some bloggers teaching people to buy cold medicine from small cities. … People in other cities are buying medicine from there which will worsen the situation. I hope the Government of small cities … will strengthen their medical supply," Jia continued.

China also recently changed how it counts COVID-19 deaths, with only fatalities directly resulting from respiratory failure adding to the daily total. Two deaths were reported on Monday, the first since December 3, and five on Tuesday.

The country began loosening restrictions on December 7, prompted by rising economic and social costs as well as widespread protests last month.