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On Monday, China reported its highest daily Covid caseload in six months, despite prolonged lockdowns that severely impacted daily life, manufacturing, and education. Over the weekend, Beijing dashed hopes that its tough zero-Covid policy, which uses spot lockdowns, quarantines, and mass testing to stop outbreaks, will soon be softened. However, a wave of lockdown-related controversies including complaints from residents about poor living conditions, food shortages, and sluggish emergency medical care has eroded public confidence. Over 5,600 new Covid cases were reported in the nation on Monday, with nearly half occurring in Guangdong province, a center of manufacturing in the south of the nation and home to important ports.
A lengthy lockout at the largest iPhone plant in the world, in Zhengzhou, central China, prompted Apple to issue a warning on Sunday, saying that production had been “temporarily affected” and that consumers would face delays in getting their purchases.
The plant is run by Taiwanese electronics firm Foxconn, which on Monday reduced down its projection for its quarterly earnings as a result of the shutdown. Foxconn is Apple’s primary subcontractor.
China’s National Health Commission swore on Saturday to “unwaveringly” adhere to zero-Covid, putting an end to a significant stock market boom that had been fuelled by unfounded rumours that Beijing will soon relax its stringent virus policy.
However, a number of high-profile cases have weakened the support for the strategy among the Chinese people.
In Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, where the city was under lockdown, a 55-year-old lady committed suicide, prompting considerable outrage over the weekend when officials acknowledged that lockdown procedures had slowed down their emergency response.
Since the discovery of a novel Omicron variety in late September, the area has had a significant outbreak.
Family members had informed community workers that the woman had an anxiety illness and had expressed suicidal intent just before she leapt from a window.
On Chinese social media, a recording of the woman’s daughter pleading with neighbourhood helpers to open her welded-shut door went viral, raising awareness of the mental health crisis worsened by extended lockdowns.
Despite the fact that it is a common practise in lockdown zones, local officials have vowed to prosecute community workers who forcibly seal doors to homes and building gates with locks.
The event occurred just days after a toddler in the shut-down city of Lanzhou in the Gansu province of northwest China passed away from carbon monoxide poisoning due to the emergency medical services’ tardy reaction delaying hospital treatment.
The boy’s father blamed lockdown procedures and neighbourhood watch members in a widely shared social media post that was later taken down. District authorities eventually issued an apology for the incident.
