BEIJING (AP) — A case of COVID-19 has increased lockdowns at the production hub in southern China’s Guangzhou, adding to currency tension that has disrupted global supply chains and drastically slowed expansion in the world’s second-largest economy.
Residents of districts of about five million people were ordered to stay home until at least Sunday, and a family member was allowed to faint once a day to buy basic necessities, the local government said Wednesday.
The order came after the densely populated city of thirteen million reported more than 2500 new cases in the past 24 hours. Public shipping was suspended and categories were halted in much of Guangzhou, while flights to Beijing and other major cities were canceled, according to state media. .
China has maintained its strict “zero-COVID” policy despite a low number of cases and no new deaths.
The country’s borders remain largely closed and home and industry are subject to ever-changing quarantine regulations.
The strict restrictions have led to occasional clashes between citizens and local Communist Party officials, who are threatened with sanctions if cases reported in their spaces of jurisdiction exceed degrees deemed acceptable.
President Xi Jinping’s party has rejected calls by the United Nations’ World Health Organization for regulations, refused to import foreign vaccines and defied demands to reveal more data on the source of the virus, which was first detected in central Wuhan in late 2019.