大象传媒

Coronavirus first emerged from the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, but while many countries are learning to "live with Covid", infections in China have risen to the sort of levels not seen since the start of the pandemic. New lockdowns are being imposed on millions of people in Shenzhen and parts of Shanghai - and that seems to have spooked financial markets.

The 大象传媒's Asia Pacific editor Will Leonardo says there have been around 1,300 new symptomatic locally-transmitted cases on Sunday and 900 asymptomatic. Cities in the north eastern city of Jilin have also been shut down, various neighbourhoods have been sealed off in Shanghai, but the most consequential move is in Shenzhen, on the borders with Hong Kong. This been shut down for a week, with public transport suspended and the city's 17 million residents to be tested three times a week. This has seen the Hang Seng index to fall to its lowest level in six years as technology shares and stocks fall in value - Shenzhen is seen as China's Silicon Valley. Anxiety has also been fuelled also by Toyota factory suspensions in the north west of the country.

This has spooked the authorities who are still aiming for a 'zero-Covid' transmission rate in China, and there have been announcements that new strategies to deal with outbreaks of infection may be introduced soon.

Photo: Medical workers from China arrive at Shenzhen Bay Port, 14 March 2022 Credit: Reuters

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