China’s Covid spike worsens: Dongguan factory center locks down, new cases top 3,500 nationwide

BEIJING — China’s worst Covid-19 outbreak for the reason that preliminary wave of the pandemic worsened Tuesday with a serious factory metropolis ordering manufacturing halts.

Recent outbreaks in 28 provinces have contaminated greater than 15,000 folks and stem primarily from the extremely transmissible omicron variant, China’s National Health Commission mentioned Tuesday, according to state media. China has 31 province-level areas.

Although the northern province of Jilin accounts for many of the cases, the most recent outbreak has hit major cities such as the financial center of Shanghai and technology manufacturing hub Shenzhen.

On Tuesday, Dongguan city within the southern province of Guangdong ordered workers of companies to earn a living from home and locked down residential areas, allowing solely essential actions comparable to shopping for groceries and taking virus checks.

The metropolis took a focused method to manufacturing halts. In industrial parks that have not reported cases, companies can preserve primary manufacturing beneath stringent virus management measures. Factory staff usually dwell in dormitories close to their office.

In areas reporting native cases, companies should cease manufacturing, the announcement mentioned. The measures took impact at midday on March 15 and can final for a few week, till the top of day March 21.

Guangdong province produced about 24% of China’s exports in 2020, in response to the most recent obtainable official knowledge accessed by way of Wind Information. The database confirmed that amongst cities its dimension, Dongguan was the fifth-largest contributor to China’s GDP final yr, with 1.09 trillion yuan ($170.31 billion) in output.

Dongguan reported 9 confirmed Covid cases and 46 asymptomatic cases for Monday. The close by tech hub of Shenzhen, additionally in Guangdong province, reported 60 new cases, together with asymptomatic ones.

The whole native case depend for Monday in mainland China included 3,507 new confirmed Covid cases and 1,647 asymptomatic ones, principally within the northern province of Jilin. That’s greater than double from a day earlier.

On Tuesday, China’s bureau of statistics spokesperson downplayed the influence of the Covid-related restrictions on financial exercise, after reporting better-than-expected data for January and February.

Economists have mentioned China’s zero-Covid coverage — utilizing journey restrictions and neighborhood lockdowns to manage outbreaks — affects consumer spending more than manufacturing.

But the most recent wave of cases surpasses the pockets of outbreaks China has handled for the reason that peak of the preliminary pandemic in early 2020.

“Our operations are considerably impacted by the most recent outbreaks and the tighter public well being measures which resulted in an additional discount of social actions, travelling and consumption,” Yum China, which operates Pizza Hut and KFC within the nation, announced Monday.

Same-store gross sales for the primary two weeks of March fell by about 20% year-on-year and are “nonetheless trending down,” the corporate mentioned. The variety of its shops which can be quickly closed or are providing solely takeaway and supply has greater than doubled, Yum China mentioned. There had been over 500 such shops in January however greater than 1,100 as of Sunday.

Yum China’s same-store sales plunged by about 40% to 50% from a yr in the past throughout the Lunar New Year vacation in 2020 when Covid first hit China.

“China is set to see a sharp slowdown in March, given it is dealing with the worst Covid outbreak since 2020,” Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie, said in a note Tuesday. ”At this second, policymakers are clearly placing COVID-zero forward of progress.”