China locks down city after protests
CHINA has ordered 6 million people into lockdown in a city where violent protests broke out at an iPhone factory over Covid-19 isolation policies and working conditions. Hundreds of workers took to the streets around the vast iPhone factory in Zhengzhou this week, confronting hazmat-clad personnel wielding batons in a rare display of public anger in China.
In the wake of the unrest, Zhengzhou authorities ordered mass testing and an effective lockdown for several districts in the central Chinese city starting today.
City centre residents cannot leave the area unless they have a negative Covid-19 test and permission from local authorities, and are advised not to leave their homes “unless necessary”.
The restrictions will affect more than 6 million people but do not cover the iPhone factory, where workers have already been under Covid restrictions for weeks. One worker said the protests had begun over a dispute over promised bonuses at the factory, run by Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn.
Many workers were also incensed by “chaotic” living conditions, said the worker. Foxconn yesterday issued an apology, blaming a “technical error” in its payment systems. Apple said it had representatives on the ground at the factory and was “working closely with Foxconn to ensure their employees’ concerns are addressed”.
China’s national zero-tolerance approach to Covid-19 involves gruelling lockdowns, travel restrictions and mass testing. However, nearly three years into the pandemic, Covid-19 cases are now higher than they have ever been in China. There were 31 444 domestic infections on Wednesday, the National Health Commission reported, the highest since the pandemic began.
The unrelenting zero-Covid-19 push has sparked sporadic protests and hitting productivity in the world’s second-largest economy. Several cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing have tightened Covid restrictions as cases have climbed. The capital now requires a negative PCR test result within 48 hours for those seeking to enter public places.
The southern manufacturing hub of Guangzhou, where nearly a third of the latest Covid cases were found, has built thousands of temporary hospital rooms. China has yet to approve mRNA vaccines for public use and only 15% of adults over 60 had not received two doses of domestic vaccines by midAugust.