China’s Zhengzhou city government has expanded its lockdown, with the densely populated Central Plains region locked down from Monday (17th) in an effort to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, underscoring the continued threat of supply chain disruptions to the business world under Beijing’s insistence on a “clearing” policy.
Nearly 1 million residents in Zhengzhou’s Zhongyuan district were asked to stay home from Monday unless they went out to get tested for the virus, and the government closed non-essential businesses, according to a notice issued by the New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters in Zhengzhou’s Zhongyuan District. The government will lift the lockdown at 6pm on Sunday.
The headquarters said that the top priority is to manage the “gates” of the community and the “small gates” of each household to minimize the flow of people; Distribute living materials to the community buildings.
The headquarters also stated that in accordance with the principle of “everyone should be checked, no one will be left behind”, the public will be tested for nucleic acid once a day from Monday to Wednesday.
After parts of Zhengzhou were locked down, the government has now expanded the lockdown, surprising many people following officials said last week that a citywide lockdown would not be imposed. Most of the two districts in Zhengzhou appeared to be blocked, according to social networking site posts and notices from neighborhood committees, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
The Zhengzhou city government’s blockade does not cover iPhone maker Hon Hai Group (2317-TW) factory. A company representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Zhengzhou city government reported six new local confirmed cases on Sunday, down from a recent peak of 40 on October 9. National cases fell to 697, the lowest in two weeks, as outbreaks in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang were brought under control.
Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Communist Party of China, hinted on Sunday that there would be no immediate change to the “zero-clearing” policy, disappointing investors who had hoped to see some signs of easing. In reading the political report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping said that strict epidemic prevention regulations have protected people’s lives. Economists estimate China’s economy will grow just 3.3 percent this year, the second-smallest growth rate in more than 40 years.
