Cases rise in China as cities cut back on testing
BEIJING: China’s Covid cases rose further on Tuesday, including in the capital Beijing, even as many cities scaled back routine testing after authorities announced measures last week aimed at easing the impact of the country’s heavy coronavirus curbs.
China is scrambling to limit the damage of its “zero-Covid policy” nearly three years into the pandemic, as the latest in a spate of dismal economic reports showed retail sales fell in October and factory output grew more slowly than expected.
While many residents have expressed guarded optimism after Friday’s announcement that some of the stringent Covid policies would be eased, concerns grew this week over the worsening outbreaks and there was confusion as some cities halted or adjusted regular testing.
In Guangzhou, a southern city of nearly 19 million people, new infections crossed 5,000 for the first time, fuelling speculation that district-level lockdowns could expand.
“The infection curve of Guangzhou is tracking the pace of Shanghai’s March-April outbreak, raising the question of whether a city-wide lockdown will be triggered,” JPMorgan analysts wrote, referring to Shanghai’s two-month lockdown this year.
“It would become a testing point regarding the government’s determination to push for the relaxation of Covid control measures,” they said.
China reported 17,772 new local Covid-19 infections for November 14, up from 16,072 new cases a day earlier and the most since April, with major cities including Chongqing and Zhengzhou among the worst-hit.
JPMorgan estimates that cities with more than 10 new cumulative cases in the past week are home to 780 million people and account for 62.2% of GDP - roughly triple the levels seen at the end of September.
Meanwhile, China’s ruling party called for strict adherence to the hard-line “zero-Covid” policy on Tuesday in an apparent attempt to guide public perceptions after regulations were eased slightly in places.
The People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, said in an editorial that China must “unswervingly implement” the policy that requires mass obligatory testing and places millions under lockdown to try to eliminate the coronavirus from the nation of 1.4 billion people and the world’s second-largest economy.