China’s economically important Zhejiang province wrestled on Tuesday with a Covid outbreak that has left half a million people dead and business closed in some districts.
Zhejiang, a major industrial and export hub on the country’s east coast, reported 44 of China’s 51 domestically transmitted coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the total since late last week to nearly 200.
Although the number of Chinese cases remains low compared to other major economies, officials in Zhejiang have planned the country’s signature mass testing blitz and targeted lockdown with concern over new outbreaks as Beijing prepares for the Winter Olympics in February. ready to host.
Officials said more than 540,000 people have been placed in quarantine in Zhejiang.
The problems in the province come as Chinese media reported on Monday that the country’s first case of the fast-spreading Omicron variant was identified in the northern port city of Tianjin.
In recent days, the district of Ningbo – the province’s main port – and the nearby city of Shaoxing said they were suspending some business operations as well.
Ningbo’s Zhenhai district, a large petrochemical base, said all enterprises related to virus control or deemed important to the public would be closed and petrochemical producers would have to reduce production.
A district of Shaoxing ordered a halt to business last Thursday.
Several publicly listed companies in Hangzhou, the province’s capital and largest city, also issued statements saying they had suspended production.
On Tuesday, data from flight tracker VeriFlight showed that hundreds of flights from Hangzhou had been canceled.
Zhejiang is one of the leading provinces in China in terms of GDP and exports.
Zhaopeng Jing, senior China strategist at ANZ Research, told AFP: “The closure of the Zhejiang factories will affect the supply chain of various sectors, especially fibers and textiles.”
He expects the flare-up to take up to 40 days, with the makers possibly resuming work only after the Lunar New Year holiday in February.
“It will have the same effect as it did in September and October, when electricity rationing was implemented,” Xing said.
The world’s second-largest economy was battling weeks of widespread power cuts – on tighter emissions targets and record coal prices – before the situation stabilized last month.
Jing said he expected Zhejiang’s COVID crisis to have a “mild effect” on Chinese GDP.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.
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