In response to a recent rise in coronavirus cases in the southern city, Shenzhen, China, ordered the closure of the largest electronics wholesale market in the world on Monday. This came as a leading Chinese think tank called for a change in the nation’s “zero-COVID” policy, which it claimed was causing widespread business disruption.
The largest electronics market in the world, located in the Huaqiangbei district, was officially announced to be closed until Thursday to contain the COVID outbreak.
All tenants must conduct their daily nucleic acid tests in Hong Kong during this time and must work from home. Huaqiang Electronics World, one of the largest businesses in the area, was quoted by South China Morning Post.
Important manufacturing companies were required to adhere to a closed-loop system for a week in order to maintain their production schedules, including Apple supplier Foxconn Technology Group, telecommunications equipment giant Huawei Technologies Co, and China’s top chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.
Hong Kong, which is near Shenzhen, reported a significant increase in cases, which has led to the emergence of the new virus cluster. 8,488 new cases were reported in Hong Kong on Monday, the second time in recent months that COVID-19 has spread so rapidly.
According to the report, a government pandemic adviser warned on Monday that the cases could reach 20,000 by next month.
The greatest outbreak, which resulted in numerous deaths in the former British colony, occurred a few months ago.
9,668 fatalities and 1,522,460 cases have been reported in Hong Kong so far.
As Beijing continues to struggle to control the spread of the Omicron variety, China recently closed down Sanya, the largest summer resort in Hainan, and canceled flights and transportation services, leaving thousands of tourists stranded for days.
Shenzhen Even the most advanced industrial metropolis in China had to shut down numerous times recently to deal with the virus’s abrupt spikes.
The National Health Commission said on Monday that China recorded 301 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases across the nation on Sunday, of which 161 were in Sichuan Province.
According to the commission’s report, 1,255 additional local asymptomatic carriers were discovered on Sunday, including 570 in Tibet and 98 in Hainan.
In China, the virus has claimed 5,226 lives so far.
COVID-19 Lockdowns again in China
The COVID-19 lockdowns, which have recently included the closure of Shanghai, the largest city in China, have had a significant impact on supply chains for industrialized goods in the second-largest economy in the world.
In order to ensure thorough checks on the periodic spikes, all inhabitants of Beijing today have to submit to mandatory testing three days a week.
The zero COVID-19 policy was anticipated to last until the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) once every five years congress.
It was expected that the meeting where Chinese President Xi Jinping would be nominated for an extraordinary third term would take place in the coming months.
Xi, 69, was expected to hold onto power for at least one more term and possibly for the rest of his life, unlike his predecessors who left office after two, five-year terms.
The decision to shut down the electronic hub came after a Chinese think tank demanded that the nation’s zero COVID-19 policy be changed because it was creating significant trade and business disruption.
A Chinese think group stated on Sunday that the virus restrictions that result in periodic city shutdowns disrupting trade, travel, and industry must reform to prevent an economic slowdown in a rare public critique of the ‘zero-COVID’ policy adopted by Xi.
The US, Europe, and Japan are all seeing economic growth after lifting anti-disease regulations, according to the Anbound Research Centre, which stated that the government should concentrate on shoring up shrinking growth.In a report titled It’s Time for China to Adjust Its Virus Control and Prevention Policies, the think tank stated that preventing the risk of an economic stall should be the top priority.
Rarely does a think tank publicly oppose the CPC’s policy or its top official.
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