China has placed millions of its citizens under renewed lockdown after fresh outbreaks of Covid-19 as the government persists in its hardline policy on containing the virus in the face of more evidence that it is suffocating the economy.
The measures affected cities from the southern cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou to the northern port city of Dalian, and from the western metropolis of Chengdu to Shijiazhuang in central Hebei province.
The lockdown in Dalian was expected to affect about half of its six million residents and was due to last five days, although authorities have in the past extended restrictions depending on the number of new cases.
The city also ordered all kindergartens and primary, middle and high schools in the district to delay resuming the new term and halt offline sessions that have already started, according to state media reports on Wednesday. Bus and subway services in the district were also reduced.
The closures came as data released on Wednesday showed more signs that China’s economy is being held back by the strict zero-Covid strategy.
China’s “zero-Covid” policy contrasts with other countries’ gradual easing of restrictions combined with vaccinations, medication and voluntary isolation.
China has largely kept its borders closed to foreign visitors, requiring any to submit to more than a week of quarantine in hotels where sanitary conditions are often poor. Masking and regular testing are standard and close contacts can be forcibly transported to field hospitals.
⬛ China on Tuesday reported 1,717 cases of local transmission, 52 of them in Liaoning province where Dalian is located. Most of the cases were reported in Sichuan province, whose capital is Chengdu, and the majority were asymptomatic.
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