China: Lockdown on 6 million people

Order to put in lockdown Six million people have been evacuated by authorities in the city of Zhengzhou, home to the iPhone factory, due to a Covid outbreak that has sparked violent protests at the factory.

Hundreds of workers they demonstrated yesterday in front of the factory and were confronted by police officers, who were armed with globes and wearing white protective suits. Authorities in Zhengzhou then ordered a large-scale testing campaign in many areas of the city. These districts are placed under lockdown for five days from midnight tomorrow.

Its many other great cities Chinaincluding Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, also imposed restrictions.

The capital now requires a negative PCR test of the past 48 hours to enter public places such as malls, hotels and administrative buildings.

Many schools turned again to distance learning. Most restaurants, bars and shops are closed.

The Guangzhou (south) manufacturing hub at the epicenter of the current Covid wave has set up temporary structures with hospital wards to receive patients.

The government had announced on November 11 an improvement in the restrictions to deal with Covid, with the relaxation of several measures, including the reduction of quarantine time mainly for visitors from abroad.

But Shijiazhuang, a community near Beijing considered a pilot city to test this new reopening strategy, backed away from most of the easing measures – as did other communities.

“The road to reopening could be slow, costly and bumpy,” Ting Lu, an economist at Nomura Bank, said in a report.

China has not yet approved the use of the mRNA vaccines that are considered more effective. Another dark spot: only 85% of those over 60 had received two doses of vaccines by mid-August, according to health authorities.