15 March 2022 - 17:08A worker delivers takeout food orders to an entrance at Shanghai Tower placed under lockdown due to Covid-19 in Shanghai, China on Monday, March 14 2022. Picture: BLOOMBERG/QILAI SHEN
Unimicron Technology, a maker of printed circuit boards, also suspended output in Shenzhen, and BYD, the Shenzhen-based car and batterymaker backed by Warren Buffett, said it was seeing some impact on production. The lockdown, China’s first of a tier-one city, is expected to last until at least March 20, with three rounds of mass testing planned to root out cases.
Another lockdown was called early on Tuesday for Langfang, a city of about 5.5-million people about 55km southeast of Beijing, close to the capital’s new international airport, Daxing. The lockdowns threaten to further upend supply chains already stretched by materials shortages, shipping delays and the uncertainty triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
New cases in the current outbreak went from just more than 1,000 reported on Friday to more than 5,000 on Tuesday — small numbers by global standards, but the highest tallies China has seen since the Wuhan days. Infections are popping up countrywide, from Beijing to the eastern port city of Qingdao and several locations in manufacturing powerhouse Guangdong province.
Restrictions on domestic travel during key holiday periods over the past six months have also blunted consumer spending and the recovery of the services sector. With cases flaring in Shanghai as well, China is looking at diverting all international flights away from the financial centre, Bloomberg News reported Friday.