People urged to stay at home as Covid-19 cases increase

CHINESE cities imposed more curbs yesterday to rein in rising coronavirus cases, adding to investor worries about the economy, as fresh unrest at the world’s largest iphone plant highlighted the social and industrial toll of China’s strict Covid-19 measures.

In Beijing, malls and parks were shut and areas of the capital resembled ghost towns as authorities urged people to stay home.

The Hainan island resort city of Sanya barred people from going to restaurants and malls within three days of arrival, and numerous cities across China have imposed lockdowns as infections neared highs seen in April.

The measures are darkening the outlook for the world’s second-largest economy and dampening hopes that China would ease its outlier Covid-19 stance any time soon, as China faces its first winter battling the highly-contagious Omicron variant.

“While there is little prospect of the authorities opting to step back from the zero-covid-19 policy during the winter, there is a significant risk that containment efforts fail,” analysts at Capital Economics wrote.

Such a failure could result in more lockdowns which would damage the economy, they said.

China’s Covid-19 curbs, the tightest in the world, have disrupted production at manufacturers including Taiwan’s Foxconn, Apple Inc’s biggest iphone supplier.

Yesterday, footage on social media showed Foxconn workers pulling down barriers and fighting with authorities, chanting “give us our pay”.

The unrest follows weeks of turmoil which has seen scores of employees leave the factory over Covid-19 controls. Localities accounting for nearly one-fifth of China’s total GDP are under some form of lockdown or curbs, brokerage Nomura estimated earlier this week, a figure that would exceed the GDP of Britain.

Even though infection numbers are low by global standards, China has stuck with its zero-covid-19 approach, a signature policy of President Xi Jinping that officials argue saves lives and prevents the medical system from being overwhelmed.

China reported 28 883 new domestically transmitted cases for Tuesday.

The International Monetary Fund urged China to further recalibrate its Covid-19 strategy and boost vaccination rates.

Residents are fed-up with nearly three years of restrictions.

The rising case numbers are also testing China’s resolve to avoid onesize-fits-all measures such as mass lockdowns to curb outbreaks, and rely on recently tweaked Covid-19 rules instead. However, unofficial lockdowns have increased, including in residential buildings and compounds in Beijing, where case numbers hit a new high on Tuesday.

In Shanghai, a city of 25 million, China’s top auto association said yesterday it would cancel the second day of the China Automotive Overseas Development Summit being held there, over Covid-19 concerns.

Chengdu, with 428 cases on Tuesday, became the latest city to announce mass testing. Major manufacturing hubs Chongqing and Guangzhou have seen high infection numbers. Cases in Guangzhou fell slightly on Tuesday to 7 970 and authorities have said infections continue to be concentrated in areas of Haizhu district.

“The next few weeks could be the worst in China since the early weeks of the pandemic both for the economy and the health-care system,” said analysts at Capital Economics.