Due to increased corona infections, China's leadership has imposed lockdowns in major economic centers, which are reminiscent of the time after the outbreak of the virus in spring 2020 and could severely affect the economy in China and other parts of the world.

Only 5,000 new infections were known in China over the weekend, which is low compared to other countries with a population of over 1.4 billion people: In Germany, where only 83 million people live, the average was in the past week 180,000 new infections recorded daily.

But because the Chinese vaccines hardly help against the omicron variant, China has far fewer hospital beds per capita on average and the first signs of panic can be seen among the population,

Henrik Ankenbrand

Economic correspondent for China based in Shanghai.

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Its first major victim this year was the southern industrial and technology metropolis of Shenzhen, whose 17 million inhabitants are not allowed to leave the city for at least a week and have to be tested three times by Sunday.

The companies have largely stopped their work.

Buses and subways no longer run.

Because Shenzhen is not only home to many major Internet companies and other technology providers, but also has a port that is responsible for 10 percent of China's containerized goods traffic, observers believe the impact on China's economy and other countries is likely to be huge.

Foxconn, Apple's Taiwanese supplier, has shut down a factory in Shenzhen that produces the iPhone.

Everything set

In China's most important economic center, Shanghai, there has been a quasi-lockdown since Sunday, but it is not officially called that.

The residents of many residential complexes are not allowed to leave them for days;

Companies are shutting down their work in droves.

In many districts, bars and restaurants have to close.

The schools already stopped face-to-face classes on Saturday.

In Minhang District, factories had to suspend all activities to have employees tested.

The Jingan district closed all parks and public facilities on Friday.

For months, Shanghai's residents, like in other cities, have had to reckon with being able to end up in quarantine at any time.

Because they suspected so-called "contacts" with infected people there, the authorities sealed off entire shopping centers for days and kept thousands of customers in them and tested them again and again.

In many offices, employees are now bringing sleeping bags and a change of clothes to work in preparation for a high-rise lockdown.

Also hit by lockdowns is the northeastern province of Jilin, which is a hub for car manufacturing and home to state-owned manufacturer FAW, one of Volkswagen's two partners.

The German automaker shut down its factory in the city of Changchun on Monday.

The Japanese manufacturer Toyota has also stopped the tapes at its production facility in the city until further notice.

China's strategy of tracking down every single Covid case and isolating those infected for weeks due to the fear of mass infections is now attracting increasing criticism from the population.

Anger is mounting on the internet over cases like that of a five-year-old girl from Shanghai's Putuo district who tested positive late last week and was subsequently separated from her parents and taken to the hospital.

Even industry leaders like the President of the European Chamber of Commerce, Jörg Wuttke, have publicly revealed that they have not traveled abroad with their families since the pandemic began, for fear of being separated from their children if they return to China.