Covid: Chinese cities impose lockdowns, curbs
China reported record high Covid-19 infections on Thursday, with cities nationwide imposing localised lockdowns, mass testing and other curbs that are fuelling frustration and darkening the outlook for the world's second largest economy.
The resurgence of infections, nearly three years after the pandemic emerged in the central city of Wuhan, casts doubt on investor hopes for China to ease its rigid zero-Covid policy soon, despite recent more targeted measures.
The curbs are taking a toll on locked-down residents as well as output at factories, including the world's biggest iPhone plant, which has been rocked by clashes between workers and security personnel in a rare show of dissent.
"How many people have the savings to support them if things continually stay halted?" asked a 40-year-old Beijing man surnamed Wang who is a manager at a foreign firm.
"And even if you have money to stay at home everyday, that's not true living."
The streets of Chaoyang, the capital's most populous district, have been increasingly empty this week.
Sanlitun, a high-end shopping area, was nearly silent on Thursday but for the whirring of the e-bikes of delivery riders ferrying meals for those working from home.
Brokerage Nomura cut its China GDP forecast for the fourth quarter to 2.4pc year-over-year from 2.8pc, and cut its forecast for full-year growth to 2.8pc from 2.9pc, which is far short of China's official target of about 5.5pc this year.
Wednesday's 31,444 new local Covid-19 infections broke a record set on April 13, when the commercial hub of Shanghai was crippled by a city-wide lockdown of its 25 million residents that would last two months.
This time, however, big outbreaks are numerous and far-flung, with the biggest in the southern city of Guangzhou and southwestern Chongqing, although hundreds of new infections are reported daily in cities such as Chengdu, Jinan, Lanzhou and Xian.
Nomura estimates that more than a fifth of China's GDP is under lockdown, a share bigger than the British economy.
Many cities have returned to mass testing, which China had hoped to cut back as costs rise. Others, including Beijing, Shanghai and the Hainan island resort city of Sanya, have limited movements of recent arrivals.
The central city of Zhengzhou, where workers at the massive Foxconn 2317.TW factory that makes iPhones for Apple Inc AAPL.O staged protests, announced five days of mass testing in eight districts, becoming the latest to revive daily tests for millions of residents.
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