Beijing posted 72 cases, up from 50 the day before, its 13th double-digit day. While the capital hasn’t been put under the full lockdown seen in recent weeks in Shanghai, restrictions have steadily advanced. Officials banned eating in restaurants, required negative test results to enter almost all public venues and encouraged residents in the eastern Chaoyang district, where the outbreak has concentrated, to work from home.
China’s main strategy to minimize damage to its economy amid the rolling lockdowns is for companies and factories to operate in a “closed loop,” in which workers live and sleep on-site or in nearby accommodation that they’re shuttled to. This has helped Shanghai restart production at more than 70% of its industrial manufacturing facilities, while 90% of of 660 “key” industrial companies have resumed output, officials said this week.
The Standing Committee noted that China has a large elderly population with insufficient overall medical resources, as well as imbalances in regional development. Relaxing Covid controls would lead to large-scale infections, a surge in serious cases and deaths, damaging the economy and people’s health, it said.“Persistence is victory,” the body said. “Right now, Covid-control work is at a critical stage where we will retreat if we don’t keep going, like we are rowing a boat upstream.