An increase in Covid-19 cases has led to lockdowns in Guangzhou, a major manufacturing region in southern China. This has added to the financial strain that has disrupted global supply chains and drastically hampered growth in the second-largest economy in the world.
Almost 5 million people live in regions that have been told to stay inside at least through Sunday, with one family member permitted to leave the house once daily to buy basics, local authorities said on Wednesday.
The 13 million-person densely crowded city issued the order after receiving more than 2,500 fresh case reports in the preceding 24 hours. Flights to Beijing and other major cities have been postponed, while classes and public transportation have been suspended throughout much of Guangzhou according to state media reports.
Despite very few cases and no new deaths, China has maintained its rigorous “zero-Covid” policy.
The country’s borders are still mostly closed, and trade and internal transit are complicated by constantly shifting quarantine rules.
Residents and local Communist Party officials have occasionally fought because of the rigorous regulations; they are threatened with punishment if reported cases in their jurisdictions exceed thresholds deemed acceptable.
The party led by President Xi Jinping has rejected appeals from the World Health Organization to relax laws, refused to import foreign vaccines, and declined to provide more details about the virus’s origins. The virus was originally discovered in late 2019 in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.