China tightens controls as Shanghai reports record Covid cases

Shanghai reported a record number of symptomatic Covid-19 cases on Saturday and other areas across China tightened controls as the country kept up its “dynamic clearance” approach that aims to stamp out the highly transmissible Omicron variant. The Zhengzhou airport economic zone, a central Chinese manufacturing area that includes Apple supplier Foxconn, announced a 14-day lockdown on Friday “to be adjusted according to the epidemic situation”.

In north-western China, the city of Xi’an urged residents to avoid unnecessary trips outside their residential compounds and encouraged companies to have employees work from home or live at their workplace, after dozens of Covid infections this month. A Xi’an government official, responding to residents’ concerns over potential food shortages, said on Saturday that the announcement did not constitute a lockdown and that the city would not impose one.

The city of Suzhou, near Shanghai, said all employees capable of working from home must do so, and residential compounds and company campuses should avoid unnecessary entry of people and vehicles. It has reported more than 500 infections in its latest outbreak.

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