BEIJING/SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) – Several of China’s largest cities imposed tighter restrictions on COVID-19 on Tuesday, further hampering the activities of tens of millions of people and raising new concerns about the physical condition of a lightly developing economy.
Metropolises in Shenzhen’s Southern Technology Center, southwest of Chengdu, and the northeastern port of Dalian have ordered measures such as closures in primary districts and closures aimed at eliminating new outbreaks.
The latest restrictions, which will delay the start of the school year for some, reflect China’s strict adherence to a “dynamic COVID 0” policy of canceling any and all outbreaks.
This insistence makes it an outlier, as the rest of the world tries to live with the coronavirus despite the burden on the world’s second-largest economy.
While many measures are planned in the first place only for a few days, any escalation or primary extension in some of China’s largest cities will likely further damage growth that is already tepid.
While the two most populous cities of Beijing and Shanghai have recently faced sporadic cases, COVID concerns still weighed on Chinese actions.
“Markets may be affected in the next two weeks, which is likely to trigger a new circular of street closures,” Nomura warned in a note, highlighting the importance of cities such as Shenzhen, also a major port.
On Tuesday, Shenzhen’s Longhua district, which has a population of 2. 5 million, closed entertainment venues and wholesale markets and suspended major events.
People will need to provide evidence of the negative effects of control within 24 hours to enter residential complexes, and restaurants will need to restrict consumers to split their capacity, the Longhua District Government said. The new sidewalks will be in effect through Saturday.
The measures followed Monday’s measures that covered 3 other districts that affected more than 6 million people in Shenzhen, which has battled outbreaks of Omicron subsidiaries this year.
City officials stopped before a general delay for the new school year, but six parents of young children said their schools had informed them about postponements, as many members of the parent teams expressed fear of uncertainty.
CLOSED AREAS OF THE PORT CITY
In Damien, a major hub for soybean and iron ore imports, a blockade that began Tuesday is expected to continue through Sunday in major urban spaces with around 3 million people. Households can send a user day to purchase daily necessities.
The blockade forces non-essential personnel to work from home, while production companies will have to reduce staff on site and perform only fundamental and pressing operations.
The southwestern city of Chengdu, with a population of 21 million, ordered the general closure of cultural and public entertainment venues starting Tuesday.
It planned to delay the start of the fall school semester and required citizens to have evidence of a negative test result within 24 hours to enter certain areas.
The northern municipality of Tianjin, which has a population of 13. 7 million, has begun a new series of citywide COVID tests, the fourth since Saturday.
Tianjin City said it would delay the resumption of offline categories for many schools.
In the northern city of Shijiazhuang, about a 3 1/2-hour drive from Beijing, four major districts ordered more than 3 million people to work from home as of Wednesday afternoon, with the exception of those with jobs.
Mainland China reported 1,717 COVID-transmitted infections by Aug. 29, adding 349 symptomatic and 1,368 asymptomatic, according to official data released Tuesday.
Of the more than 20 places that reported infections on Monday, Tibet, Qinghai and Sichuan province, of which Chengdu is the capital, accounted for the largest share of the cases.
Qinghai’s capital Xining, with a population of 2. 5 million, ordered a Monday-Thursday morning shutdown in major urban areas, disrupting public transport and restricting travel.
Cases have risen in Hong Kong, which does not have the same zero-COVID measures as mainland China, and government advisers expect a tally of 10,000 infections this week, stoking fears that the brakes will tighten.
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