A medical worker in a protective suit collects a swab from a resident at a nucleic acid testing site in Nanshan district, following Covid-19 outbreak in Shenzhen.- Reuters
SHENZHEN (Bloomberg): With rising Covid cases, residents in China’s technology hub of Shenzhen are fearing a second city-wide lockdown, even as local authorities sought to quash such rumours fuelled by restrictions imposed just hours earlier in another megacity to the west.
The anti-epidemic task force of the metropolis in the southern province of Guangdong said some online posts misconstrued district-level measures such as work-from-home as a lockdown, and asked the city’s almost 18 million people to remain calm and go about their daily lives.
The agency said residents must continue to monitor official announcements on the latest Covid guidelines, according to a notice from the city administration.
The anxiety in Shenzhen, which already experienced a seven-day complete lockdown in mid-March, underscores how China’s enduring Covid Zero policy is keeping the nation on edge even almost three years after the first coronavirus case emerged in Wuhan.
Though new cases in the country are fewer than elsewhere in the world, Beijing has pressed ahead with its strict control measures that brought widespread misery to Shanghai during a grueling lockdown in April and May.
On Thursday, about 21 million residents of Chengdu in Sichuan province went into a lockdown.
At least seven of 10 districts in Shenzhen have introduced control measures such as closing entertainment venues and restaurants. Wide swaths of Futian and Luohu districts, where cases have been found, have been locked down, with residents ordered to stay at home. Those in other districts have been told to avoid gatherings and stay home as much as possible.
Situated on the mainland just across the border from Hong Kong, Shenzhen is home to some of China’s biggest companies including Huawei Technologies Co. and BYD Co., which are now accustomed to "closed loop” systems.
The restrictions mean employees only move between work and home, physically cut off from people outside their factories or offices. Such a method has been used by businesses to avoid major disruptions. A Foxconn representative said in a statement Thursday that operations at the firm’s Shenzhen plant were normal.
The risk of a second city-wide lockdown in Shenzhen is high because the city last introduced strict curbs after discovering 29 cases. The latest data show 87 new cases for Thursday, up from 62 the previous day, with most discovered in quarantine.
Nationwide, there were 1,855 cases for Thursday, down from 1,903 the day before. China’s Covid infections have dropped from a peak of 3,400 in mid-August, but has spread to 25 out of 31 provinces and regions.
Efforts similar to those in Shenzhen -- seeking to allay concerns over an impending lockdown -- also happened in Shanghai and Chengdu, only to be followed by a lockdown.
A Chengdu man surnamed Yu published a post Aug 29 saying that the city would go into lockdown, triggering panic-buying by residents. Officials said the post was false, and detained Yu for 15 days and fined him 1,000 yuan ($145). Two days later the speculation became reality.
