Best News Network

Shanghai hunkers down for final COVID battle, Beijing outbreak stubborn

Article content

SHANGHAI/BEIJING — Shanghai was tightening its COVID-19 lockdown for what it hoped would be the final week of its battle with the virus before it could gradually begin to ease restrictions, while Beijing kept fighting its much smaller but persistent outbreak.

China’s commercial hub of 25 million hoped to come out of its painful six-week-old lockdown later this month. Authorities on Saturday were hoping one last round of tightening would eradicate the last infections of the country’s worst COVID outbreak of the pandemic.

Advertisement 2

Article content

Many residents of the nation’s most populous city, allowed to leave their housing compounds about a week ago for short walks or quick grocery trips, have more recently received notices to stay indoors for a three-day “silent” period.

Many buildings were told overnight that restriction would be extended until Friday. Going silent usually means residents cannot leave home and, in some cases, it can mean no deliveries.

Linette Lim, who has spent more than 40 days under lockdown, said her community received such a notice on Friday, a day after its official risk levels was lowered to a grade that in theory should have led to looser restrictions.

“It’s very frustrating because everyone has been asked to make sacrifices, to overcome the present difficulties for the collective good, and people have been consistently complying and coping with whatever is thrown at them,” she said.

Advertisement 3

Article content

“But somehow the goalposts keep shifting,” said Lim. “Nerves are frayed and people have no end goal to look forward to.”

CLOSING QUARANTINE CENTRES

Hundreds of millions in dozens of Chinese cities live under COVID curbs of various degrees. The measures are hurting consumption and manufacturing in the world’s second-biggest economy, and disrupting global trade and supply chains.

Some analysts expect the economy to shrink this quarter. Officials have promised more stimulus measures.

China will offer subsidies, tax breaks and easier loans to boost prospects for college graduates, the cabinet said on Friday, as a record 10.76 million are set to finish college and enter the workforce this year in a weaker economy.

Advertisement 4

Article content

China’s jobless rate hit its highest in nearly two years in March at 5.8%, while youth unemployment was 16%, the highest since July 2021.

Shanghai city official Ding Bo said on Saturday the number of patients in quarantine hospitals dropped to 50,000, one-fifth of the peak recorded last month. Authorities therefore closed five quarantine centers, he said.

The city reported more than 1,500 daily coronavirus cases, down from more than 2,000 the day before – all in areas under the tightest controls.

Cases found in relatively freer communities are being closely watched for clues on where the outbreak is heading. There was one such case detected on Friday, down from four the previous day.

Beijing reported 56 daily cases, up from 50. The capital has been detecting a few dozen new cases almost every day since the first infections of its outbreak were discovered on April 22.

Advertisement 5

Article content

Officials in the capital this week denied rumors of an imminent lockdown, urging people not to panic-buy but to stay at home. Residents seemed to be heeding the advice as many of Beijing’s streets were eerily quiet.

Mass testing across most of the city has become an almost daily routine.

Authorities in the capital had already banned dine-in services at restaurants, closed some malls, entertainment and tourist venues, suspended sections of the bus, subway and taxi systems and imposed lockdowns on some residential buildings. (Reporting by Engen Tham, Zhuzhu Cui and Brenda Goh in Shanghai, and the Beijing and Shanghai bureaus; Writing by Marius Zaharia; Editing by William Mallard)

Advertisement

Comments

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our  Twitter, & Facebook

We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.

For all the latest Business News Click Here 

 For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! NewsAzi is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.