A second death related to the virus was reported in the Chinese capital after one on Saturday – and thus the first time in China since the end of May. 26,824 new local cases were reported for Sunday, bringing the country closer to its April daily high.
The metropolis of Guangzhou, which has almost 19 million inhabitants, is struggling with the largest of the recent outbreaks in China. The authority ordered a five-day lockdown for the most populous district of Baiyun. Restaurants, nightclubs and theaters were closed in the city’s main business district. The latest wave is testing China’s resolve to maintain the recently initiated adjustment of the strict zero-Covid policy. This requires cities to take a more targeted approach and move away from the widespread lockdowns and controls that are weighing on the economy and causing frustration among the population.
Several cities had begun canceling their routine corona tests in the past week, including the metropolis of Shijiazhuang, which has been the subject of lively speculation that it could be a testing ground for policy relaxation. On Sunday evening, however, she announced mass tests again in the next five days for six of her eight districts. China’s recent efforts to make its corona course more targeted had raised hopes among investors for more significant easing, even as the country is only now facing its first winter with the highly contagious omicron variant.
Many analysts believe that easing could not begin until March or April. The new corona worries mostly pushed the stock markets in Asia into the red on Monday. The imminent decline in demand from the top customer China also pushed raw material prices down. “From an epidemiological and political point of view, we do not believe that the country is ready to open up yet,” said the research house Oxford Economics.
Source: Nachrichten
