China locks down city of 21 million residents after 157 Covid cases reported 

 

Chengdu, the capital of southwest China’s Sichuan province, reported 106 new verified Covid- 19 original cases and 51 asymptomatic infections for Wednesday, and designated 381 high and medium- threat areas in the megacity 


People visit a shopping mall in Chengdu, in China’s southwestern Sichuan province.(Image credit: Google)( AFP/ FILE)


 

 BEIJING Chengdu, one of China’s biggest metropolises with over 21 million residers, went into a lockdown from Thursday as megacity authorities declared a four- day nucleic acid testing to contain a rising number of Omicron- driven Covid- 19 cases, bringing back remembrances of the crippling lockdown in Shanghai just months earlier. 


 residers were asked not to leave their homes from 6 pm Thursday until farther notice as original authorities shut down shops and businesses and reduced public transport to contain the outbreak, said to have spread from a swimming pool in a spa and a water demesne. 

 

Chengdu, the capital of southwest China’s Sichuan province, reported 106 new attested Covid- 19 regional cases and 51 asymptomatic infections for Wednesday, and designated 381 high and medium- threat areas in the megacity. 


 “ Each ménage can arrange one person to go out onetime a day to buy day-to-day inventories with the negative nucleic acid certification within 24 hours, ” the state- run Global Times reported on Thursday. 

 

Chengdu is the largest megacity to be locked down in China since Shanghai and it was n’t incontinently clear whether the restrictions will be lifted on Sunday after four rounds of Covid- 19 tests are carried out. “ The situation is really serious and the progress of the epidemic is veritably quick, ” the GT report said, quoting regional authorities. 


 

Morning brief UN report 


 “ Flights to and from Chengdu were dramatically cut back, according to Flight Master data. At 10 am regional time on Thursday, it showed 398 flights were cancelled at Shuangliu Airport in Chengdu, with a cancellation rate of 62. At Chengdu’s Tianfu Airport, 79, or 725 flights, were cancelled, ” Reuters reported. 

 

 Millions more are facing targetted Covid- 19 constraint restrictions across China including in big metropolises like Shenzhen and Guangzhou in southern China’s Guangdong province and in the northern port town of Dalian. 


 “ Looking to September, although the heatwave will probably subside as summer concludes, the recent spread of Omicron to large megacities- from Chengdu in the West to Shenzhen in the South to Shijiazhuang and Tianjin in the North( veritably near to Beijing)- may weigh on business Works in both manufacturing and services sectors, ” Nomura, a global Economic services group, said in a report on Wednesday. 


China policies and bossiness

China continues to apply its hardline zero- Covid policy, the only major economy at present to do so, with the measures of snap lockdowns, shutting down of businesses, travel restrictions and mass testing breaking Financial Activities and cooling growth. 

 

 Beijing has doubled down on the policy ahead of the Communist Party of China’s all-important 20th National Congress now slated for October 16.