After a week of partial lockdowns and movement restrictions, Shanghai reported 3,590 new symptomatic Covid-19 cases on Saturday, the largest daily increase, and nearly 20,000 asymptomatic infections on April 15.
Shanghai remains the epicentre of the outbreak, with no signs of easing the lockdown. Millions of city dwellers are still confined to their homes, some for nearly three weeks. On Friday, the mainland reported 3,867 symptomatic and 20,813 asymptomatic infections from the financial hub.
This outbreak has resulted in nearly 330,000 infections as of Friday. Amid a significant slowdown in growth, China’s central bank reduced the amount of cash banks must retain as reserves on Friday.
“The long-term and widening restrictions reveal widespread supply chain disruptions,” according to Reuters. “As road transit is slowed by Covid-19 outbreaks, more businesses in Shanghai and Suzhou are shipping containers by water through a green channel sponsored by the Taicang and Shanghai ports,” Xinhua stated.
Following scores of Covid-19 infections this month, several cities, like Xian in northwest China, are advising citizens to avoid needless travels outside their residential compounds and encouraging employers to have staff work from home or live on site.
In January, the 13 million-strong city had one of China’s longest pandemic-related lockdowns. Residents were quarantined from December 22 to January 24 after a Covid-19 cluster expanded to over 2,100 cases, China’s worst local outbreak in months.
On Friday, the Zhengzhou Airport Economic Zone, home to Apple supplier Foxconn, issued a 14-day lockdown “to be adjusted according to the epidemic situation”.
Suzhou, in Jiangsu province, about an hour from Shanghai, stepped up epidemic prevention and control measures on Saturday after migrant workers near the Suzhou railway station reported multiple positive cases.
“Residents were urged to stay at home if there was no emergency,” the state-run Global Times reported Saturday.
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