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

Chengdu, one of China’s biggest cities with over 21 million residents, went into a lockdown from Thursday as city authorities announced a four-day nucleic acid testing to contain a rising number of Omicron-driven Covid-19 cases, bringing back memories of the crippling lockdown in Shanghai just months ago.

Residents were asked not to leave their homes from 6pm Thursday until further notice as local authorities shut down shops and businesses and reduced public transport to contain the outbreak, said to have spread from a swimming pool in a gym and a water park.

Chengdu, the capital of southwest China’s Sichuan province, reported 106 new confirmed Covid-19 local cases and 51 asymptomatic infections for Wednesday, and designated 381 high and medium-risk areas in the city.

“Each household can arrange one person to go out once a day to buy daily supplies with the negative nucleic acid certificate within 24 hours,” the state-run Global Times reported on Thursday.

Chengdu is the largest city to be locked down in China since Shanghai and it wasn’t immediately clear whether the restrictions will be lifted on Sunday after four rounds of Covid-19 tests are carried out. “The situation is very serious and the progress of the epidemic is very fast,” the GT report said, quoting local authorities.

“Flights to and from Chengdu were dramatically cut back, according to Flight Master data. At 10 am local 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 containment restrictions across China including in big cities like Shenzhen and Guangzhou in southern China’s Guangdong province and in the northern port city of Dalian.

“Looking to September, although the heatwave will likely subside as summer concludes, the recent spread of Omicron to large cities – from Chengdu in the West to Shenzhen in the South to Shijiazhuang and Tianjin in the North (very close to Beijing) – may weigh on business activity in both manufacturing and services sectors,” Nomura, a global financial services group, said in a report on Wednesday.

China continues to implement 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 disrupting economic activity 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.