CHINA'S COVID SURGE: "ZERO-COVID" APPROACH FAILS, LOCKDOWNS INCREASE, AND WORSE IS ALMOST CERTAIN

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Beijing: All 17 million residents of Shenzhen, China's innovation hub, were put on lockdown for the first time on Monday, as restrictions expanded throughout Shanghai and other major cities to tackle an outbreak that threatened the country's zero-tolerance Covid approach.

The measure was put in place on Sunday in Shenzhen, China's southernmost city, to combat an Omicron outbreak in factories and neighbourhoods linked to Hong Kong, where the virus is wreaking havoc.

Foxconn, a major Apple supplier, announced Monday that it has halted operations in Shenzhen as the industrial shutdown wreaked havoc on the city's economy.

Shenzhen is one of ten cities in China to have ordered the evacuation of all citizens, while the policy was also implemented Monday in parts of other important cities such as Dalian, Nanjing, and Tianjin, which are all close to the capital.

As concerns grow about China's "zero-Covid" strategy in the face of the highly transmissible Omicron form, health officials have warned that tougher restrictions may be on the way.

On Monday, authorities reported 2,300 new virus cases across the country, up from nearly 3,400 the day before, the biggest daily amount in two years.

At a Monday press conference, Shenzhen city administrator Huang Qiang noted, "There have been many small-scale clusters in urban villages and companies."

"This indicates a significant danger of community spread, and further safeguards are required."

Residents joked on social media about their hurry to collect laptops from offices before the lockdown, as photos provided with AFP by a Shenzhen resident showed housing compound entrances blocked by giant plastic barriers.

Concerns about the impact of the virus spreading in Shenzhen, which is home to Foxconn, Huawei, and Tencent, sent tech stocks plunging on the Hong Kong exchange on Monday.

Putting up a fight

Residential areas and offices in certain neighbourhoods in Shanghai, China's most populated metropolis, remained closed Monday as municipal officials attempted to avert a total lockdown.

On Monday, the city recorded roughly 170 new virus cases, causing concern among companies about the impending economic suffering.

A restauranteur with four locations in Shanghai said he has to navigate a maze of hyper-local regulations, illustrating how regular life in China is still being turned upside down by a pandemic that the rest of the world has learned to deal with.

"Various districts have different policies," he explained to AFP on condition of anonymity.

"I'm going to close one and leave the others open for now and see how things go. What else can I do but put up with it?"

Other outbreak epicentres haven't fared as well.

For the second day in a running, Jilin province in the country's northeast saw over 1,000 new cases, prompting officials to tighten restrictions on Monday, prohibiting locals from leaving their cities without police approval.

Since the beginning of March, at least five cities in the province have been shut down, including Changchun, the province's major industrial hub, whose nine million citizens were ordered to stay at home on Friday.

While the caseload is small in comparison to the rest of the world, it is extremely concerning in China, where authorities have been relentless in suppressing clusters since early 2020.

According to state media, at least 26 officials from three provinces have been fired in recent days owing to their handling of local epidemics.

China has so far managed to keep rare domestic outbreaks under control with a mix of emergency lockdowns, mass testing, and travel restrictions, but the new outbreak is pushing the boundaries of its strategy.

Despite Omicron's low death rate, top medical expert Zhang Wenhong stated Monday that China cannot relax its zero-Covid policy just yet.

"In the near future, it is critical for China to continue to pursue the community Covid-zero policy," Zhang posted on social media.

"However, this does not imply that we will continue to use the lockdown and full testing technique indefinitely."

 

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