| Translate This News In |
|---|
China shut down a nine-million-person industrial city overnight and noted over 4,000 virus cases on Tuesday, as the country’s “zero-Covid” strategy is tested by an Omicron wave. As the city of Shenyang in the neighboring Liaoning province was ordered to close late Monday, health officials reported 4,770 new infections across the country, with the majority in the northeastern province of Jilin. In recent weeks, China has moved quickly to eliminate virus clusters through a combination of hyper-local lockdowns, mass testing, and citywide closures. On Saturday, it reported two Covid-19 deaths, the first in over a year. Authorities have warned of the threat that persistent lockdowns pose to growth as the country tries to balance the health crisis with the needs of the world’s second-largest economy.
Shenyang, an industrial base that houses factories such as BMW, reported 47 new cases on Tuesday after authorities placed all housing substances under “closed management” and barred residents from leaving without a 48-hour negative test result.
Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of “minimizing the impact” of the pandemic on China’s economy, while also urging officials to “stick to” the current zero-Covid approach.
The latest Omicron surge, however, has pushed Beijing’s virus playbook to its breaking point, forcing authorities to free up hospital beds from mild-symptom patients.
Some cities, such as Shanghai, have avoided a full lockdown and rather than imposed a web of individual building lockdowns, despite the fact that the number of new daily asymptomatic infections in the city is in the hundreds.
According to Jilin provincial officials, the first 10,000 doses of Pfizer’s oral Covid drug arrived on Sunday, marking the first time Paxlovid has been used in China.
The province imposed strict travel restrictions last week, prohibiting residents from leaving their cities and counties, while several cities have already confined residents at home.
Shenzhen, China’s southern tech powerhouse, announced on Monday that it would lift its week-long lockdown “in an orderly manner,” after partially relaxing measures on Friday to mitigate the impact of virus shutdowns on factories and ports.
