China’s manufacturing hub Guangzhou partially locked down as Covid outbreak

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Hong Kong
CNN
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China’s southern metropolis of Guangzhou has locked down more than 5 million residents, as authorities rush to stamp out a widening Covid outbreak and avoid activating the kind of citywide lockdown that devastated Shanghai earlier this year.

Guangzhou reported 3,007 local infections on Wednesday, accounting for over one third of new cases across China, which is experiencing a six-month high in infections nationwide.

The city of 19 million has become the epicenter of China’s latest Covid outbreak, logging more than 1,000 new cases – a relatively high figure by the country’s zero-Covid standards – for five straight days.

As the world moves away from the pandemic, China still insists on using snap lockdowns, mass testing, extensive contact-tracing and quarantines to stamp out infections as soon as they emerge. The zero-tolerance approach has faced increasing challenge from the highly transmissible Omicron variant, and its heavy economic and social costs have drawn mounting public backlash.

The ongoing outbreak is the worst since the start of the pandemic to have hit Guangzhou. The city is the capital of Guangdong province, which is a major economic powerhouse for China and a global manufacturing hub.

Most cases in Guangzhou have been centered in Haizhu district – a mostly residential urban district of 1.8 million people on the southern bank of the Pearl River. Haizhu was locked down last Saturday, with residents told not to leave home unless necessary and all public transport – from buses to subways – suspended. The lockdown was initially supposed to last for three days, but has since been extended to Friday.

Two more districts – with a combined population of 3.8 million – were locked down on Wednesday as the outbreak widened.

Residents in Liwan, an old district in the west of the city, woke to an order to stay at home unless absolutely necessary. College and universities in the district were told to lock down their campuses. Restaurant dining was banned and businesses ordered to shut, apart from those providing essential supplies.

On Wednesday afternoon, a third district, the outlying Panyu, announced a lockdown that will last till Sunday. The district also banned private vehicles and bicycles from the streets.

Starting from Thursday, all primary and middle schools in the city’s eight urban districts are moving class online, with kindergartens closed. Tutoring classes, training institutions and daycare centers will also suspend services, the city’s education officials told a news conference Wednesday.

Mass testing has been rolled out in nine districts across the city, and more than 40 subway stations have been closed. Residents deemed close contacts of infected persons –…