Chinese Cities Set New Restrictions To Fight COVID-19

Several big Chinese cities escalated COVID-19 restrictions on Tuesday, with Shenzhen closing more businesses and Dalian locking down millions.

The fresh measures reflect China’s insistence on its so-called “dynamic COVID zero” policy that aims to quash every outbreak as and when they happen.

Longhua, a Shenzhen district with 2.5 million residents, on Tuesday closed various entertainment venues and wholesale market-places and suspended large events.

Longhua’s district authority said people must show proof of negative test results within 24 hours to enter residential compounds, and restaurants must limit the number of customers to no more than 50 per cent of their capacity.

The moves followed similar measures announced on Monday covering three other districts that affected over 6 million in Shenzhen, which has fought multiple outbreaks of Omicron sub-variants this year.

In Dalian also, a major port in northeastern China on Tuesday entered a lockdown that is to last until Sunday.

In the southwestern city of Chengdu, the districts of Wuhou and Qingyang on Tuesday suspended many venues and tour groups and planned to delay the start of the fall semester for schools.

The northern municipality of Tianjin also started a new citywide COVID-19 testing to identify community infections, the fourth such testing since Saturday.

In Hong Kong, cases have been rising and government advisers expect infections to hit 10,000 per day this week, triggering concerns that authorities will tighten more restrictions.