Lockdowns are spreading to dozens of Chinese cities

Local lockdowns are proliferating across China, suggesting that Shanghai’s fight against the virus could be the prelude to a wider battle that threatens to paralyze the world’s second-largest economy, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Chinese health authorities announced more than 29,000 new infections on Thursday, the highest daily rate since the Wuhan pandemic began more than two years ago.

Strict measures appear to be paying off in China’s northeastern tip, where local officials are declaring “victory” after an extensive lockdown. However, local lockdowns are being imposed, extended or extended to other parts of the country, including the northern industrial city of Taiyuan and the southern cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Forty-five Chinese cities with a total population of 373 million had implemented either full or partial lockdowns since Monday, a sharp increase from 23 cities and 193 million residents a week earlier, according to a Nomura survey. The 45 cities represent more than a quarter of China’s population and about 40% of the country’s total economic output.

Beyond Shanghai, cities subject to either total or fairly severe foreclosures account for more than 12% of China’s gross domestic product, according to China-based research firm Gavekal Dragonomics.

Restrictions due to the pandemic have contributed to declining property sales and a sharp decline in tourism and other services, and threaten to affect spring sowing in key crops.

With more than 95% of China’s new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, Shanghai remains the focus of the ongoing lockdowns in the country.

Some residents of the country’s financial capital have been allowed to move out of their apartment buildings in recent days, but those living in high-risk neighborhoods remain at home. Movements to, from and around the city of 25 million people remain tightly controlled.