The Fort Worth Press - Chinese cities and factories lock down as outbreak spreads

USD -
AED 3.672965
AFN 74.596256
ALL 95.831899
AMD 402.226403
ANG 1.814435
AOA 913.494926
ARS 1060.689137
AUD 1.593854
AWG 1.8025
AZN 1.698681
BAM 1.896506
BBD 2.032707
BDT 122.771548
BGN 1.898264
BHD 0.379527
BIF 2980.456421
BMD 1
BND 1.359663
BOB 6.956505
BRL 5.811697
BSD 1.006705
BTN 88.065317
BWP 13.925346
BYN 3.294756
BYR 19600
BZD 2.022234
CAD 1.434195
CDF 2854.999653
CHF 0.911125
CLF 0.025107
CLP 963.467907
CNY 7.306799
CNH 7.312715
COP 4142.71
CRC 513.14622
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 106.922081
CZK 24.347
DJF 179.281188
DKK 7.231801
DOP 62.465759
DZD 135.349588
EGP 50.318044
ERN 15
ETB 128.828209
EUR 0.96939
FJD 2.313298
FKP 0.823587
GBP 0.806286
GEL 2.780269
GGP 0.823587
GHS 15.554683
GIP 0.823587
GMD 72.000028
GNF 8703.704602
GTQ 7.784652
GYD 211.051476
HKD 7.78829
HNL 25.658281
HRK 7.379548
HTG 131.680379
HUF 393.333994
IDR 16347.55
ILS 3.56305
IMP 0.823587
INR 87.587505
IQD 1318.865665
IRR 42099.999941
ISK 142.109424
JEP 0.823587
JMD 159.073389
JOD 0.709405
JPY 151.922501
KES 129.559631
KGS 87.450224
KHR 4044.468794
KMF 476.494181
KPW 900.000111
KRW 1452.195004
KWD 0.30857
KYD 0.83897
KZT 513.379199
LAK 21872.924293
LBP 90155.681074
LKR 299.260624
LRD 200.342291
LSL 18.557611
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.943347
MAD 10.072969
MDL 18.876633
MGA 4743.596581
MKD 59.669435
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3398.000107
MOP 8.077264
MRU 40.320571
MUR 46.869891
MVR 15.409574
MWK 1745.686207
MXN 20.575703
MYR 4.467499
MZN 63.910349
NAD 18.557791
NGN 1506.319964
NIO 37.050864
NOK 11.25506
NPR 140.903824
NZD 1.76719
OMR 0.385548
PAB 1.006725
PEN 3.741424
PGK 4.043499
PHP 58.136499
PKR 280.934659
PLN 4.064905
PYG 7940.578986
QAR 3.670638
RON 4.8224
RSD 113.511076
RUB 97.661456
RWF 1419.491217
SAR 3.7511
SBD 8.446814
SCR 14.415123
SDG 600.999943
SEK 10.96526
SGD 1.354625
SHP 0.823587
SLE 22.740263
SLL 20969.49992
SOS 575.398653
SRD 35.105033
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.809569
SYP 13001.999985
SZL 18.551613
THB 33.846022
TJS 11.019088
TMT 3.51
TND 3.215177
TOP 2.342097
TRY 36.03069
TTD 6.830446
TWD 32.859501
TZS 2587.354611
UAH 41.726293
UGX 3697.400765
UYU 43.791091
UZS 13045.143586
VES 60.44553
VND 25375
VUV 118.722008
WST 2.800827
XAF 636.057928
XAG 0.031235
XAU 0.000347
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.772143
XOF 636.057928
XPF 115.644379
YER 249.05024
ZAR 18.521665
ZMK 9001.179928
ZMW 28.163893
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    67.2100

    67.21

    +100%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0300

    7.42

    -0.4%

  • CMSC

    -0.0700

    23.37

    -0.3%

  • SCS

    -0.2200

    11.36

    -1.94%

  • NGG

    -0.1300

    61.54

    -0.21%

  • RIO

    -0.2400

    61.95

    -0.39%

  • GSK

    -0.3400

    36.04

    -0.94%

  • BCC

    -1.8300

    123.28

    -1.48%

  • RELX

    -0.4100

    49.99

    -0.82%

  • BTI

    0.1400

    41.76

    +0.34%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    12.81

    -0.16%

  • VOD

    0.1300

    8.57

    +1.52%

  • AZN

    -0.3700

    71.99

    -0.51%

  • BP

    0.3100

    32.27

    +0.96%

  • BCE

    -1.3800

    22.14

    -6.23%

  • CMSD

    -0.0800

    23.75

    -0.34%

Chinese cities and factories lock down as outbreak spreads
Chinese cities and factories lock down as outbreak spreads

Chinese cities and factories lock down as outbreak spreads

Seventeen million people in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen began their first full day under lockdown Monday, with restrictions also imposed in Shanghai and other major cities in an effort to extinguish the biggest threat to the nation's zero-tolerance Covid strategy.

Text size:

The southern city took the measures on Sunday as authorities battled an Omicron flare-up in factories and neighbourhoods linked to nearby Hong Kong, which is recording scores of daily deaths as the virus runs rampant.

Shenzhen is one of ten areas nationwide to issue some level of stay-at-home order.

Health officials have warned tighter measures could be on their way, as concerns mount over the resilience of China's "zero-Covid" approach in the face of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant.

Authorities reported 2,300 new virus cases nationwide on Monday and almost 3,400 a day earlier, the highest daily figure in two years.

"There have been many small-scale clusters in urban villages and factories," Shenzhen city official Huang Qiang said at a Monday briefing.

"This suggests a high risk of community spread, and further precautions are still needed."

Photos shared with AFP by a Shenzhen resident showed entrances to a housing compound blocked by large plastic barriers, as residents swapped jokes on social media about their rush to grab laptops from offices before the lockdown.

Tech stocks tumbled on the Hong Kong exchange in early trading Monday, as concerns over the impact of the virus spread in Shenzhen -- a hub for iPhone maker Foxconn, as well as Huawei and Tencent -- spooked investors.

- Toughing it out -

In Shanghai, China's largest city, residential areas and offices in some neighbourhoods remained sealed off on Monday, as city authorities try to avoid a full lockdown.

The city reported around 170 new virus cases on Monday, enough to seed anxiety among businesses over the economic pain ahead.

A restauranteur with four outlets in different parts of the city, said he has to wade through a morass of hyper-local restrictions, giving an indication of how ordinary life in China is still spun on its head by a pandemic that has eased across much of the world.

"Different districts adopt different policies," he told AFP, requesting anonymity.

"I want to close one and keep the rest open, and see how it goes later. What else can I do except for tough it out?"

Other outbreak epicentres have been less lucky.

Jilin province in the country's northeast recorded over 1,000 new cases for the second day in a row.

At least five cities in the province have been locked down since the beginning of March, including the major industrial base of Changchun, whose nine million residents were confined at home Friday.

While the caseload is low in global terms, it is deeply alarming in China where authorities have been unrelenting in squashing clusters since early 2020.

In recent days, at least 26 officials in three provinces have been dismissed due to their poor handling of local outbreaks, state media reported.

China has so far managed to control sporadic domestic outbreaks through a combination of snap lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions but the latest outbreak is testing the limits of its playbook.

Top medical expert Zhang Wenhong said Monday that China cannot relax its zero-Covid policy just yet despite the low fatality rate of Omicron.

"It is very important for China to continue to adopt the strategy of community Covid-zero in the near future," Zhang wrote on social media. "But this does not mean that we will permanently adopt the strategy of lockdown and full testing."

J.Ayala--TFWP