China Reaffirms Zero COVID Position, Guangzhou City on the Brink

BEIJING, Nov 10 (Reuters) – China’s new top governing body on Thursday reaffirmed Beijing’s “dynamic-zero” COVID-19 policy as the number of cases surged and Guangzhou city authorities urged residents to work from home but stopped short of the city. – wide blocking.

In its first meeting since the ruling Communist Party’s twice-a-decade congress, the Politburo Standing Committee said China’s epidemic prevention measures should not be relaxed, according to state media.

The meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping also emphasized the need to minimize the impact of COVID on the economy.

“We must take more decisive and decisive measures to curb the spread of the epidemic as soon as possible and restore normal production and normal life as soon as possible,” the leadership said at the meeting, according to Xinhua news agency.

The number of new cases is the highest since April, and the resurgent infections and China’s aggressive response to them are disrupting residents and businesses in the country’s cities and weighing on financial markets, including global ones. goods.

New bank lending fell sharply in October, central bank data on Thursday showed, well below expectations in a Reuters poll, as outbreaks of COVID-19 and a slump in the property sector weighed on credit demand.

Organizers of China’s flagship event in Beijing car show said that the already postponed event will not take place this year due to the situation related to COVID-19 in the capital, where 95 new infections were registered during the previous day, compared to 80 the previous day.

Although the number of infections in China is low by world standards. With new domestic cases hitting 8,824 on Wednesday, the country continues to remain zero-sum in its approach to COVID-19, sparking widespread public frustration and damage to the world’s second-largest economy.

NO COVER… YET

In the southern city of Guangzhou, a manufacturing powerhouse of about 19 million people, cases topped 2,000 for the third day in a row and officials began mass testingSo far withstanding the city-wide lockdown that paralyzed Shanghai for two months earlier this year.

“As things stand, it’s hard to say whether Guangzhou will repeat Shanghai’s experience this spring. If Guangzhou repeats what Shanghai did in the spring, it will lead to a new round of pessimism about China,” Nomura analysts wrote. Thursday note.

Mason Long, who works for a gaming company in Guangzhou, said some residents are preparing for a lockdown, and many are leaving the city or planning to do so.

Most of Guangzhou’s 11 districts are under some sort of COVID restrictions.

“Panyu District just announced that they are restricting travel in and out, so that’s three districts to announce,” Long said. “The rest of us in other districts are very worried that this will apply to the whole city and we will face a Shanghai-style lockdown.”

Chinese stock prices last week went up hopes that China will begin to ease COVID restrictions, but Beijing continues to reaffirm its commitment to policies that authorities say are saving lives.

China has yet to spell out an easing strategy or set up a new mass vaccination campaign, which experts say is needed before it can begin, with many saying China is unlikely to begin easing until the spring at the earliest.

BE MORE TARGETED!

Residents of some districts in Beijing have been asked to take COVID tests every day this week.

A loud hailstone crackled repeatedly outside a residential area in Chaoyang District.

In a commentary on Thursday by the official Xinhua news agency, Chinese authorities were called on to take a more targeted approach to fighting the outbreak and to fix additional “layers” of measures.

“All localities will further improve the level of scientific and accurate prevention and control, strive to achieve the maximum effect of prevention and control at the lowest cost, and minimize the impact of the epidemic on economic and social development,” Xinhua reported.

Taiwan’s Foxconn said on Thursday that it is expected smartphone revenue fall this quarter and was adjusting production to avoid the latest COVID-19 restrictions at its massive Zhengzhou factory, which makes Apple. (AAPL.O) iPhones affected by holiday orders.

Foxconn (2317.TW) he was shocked by the latest outcry over strict COVID-19 measures at the Zhengzhou factory, where many of his roughly 200,000 workers fled the site.

Reporting by Bernard Orr, Ryan Wu, Martin Pollard and Tony Munro in Beijing and Josh Yeh in Hong Kong; Editing by Robert Birsel, Raisa Kasolowski and Alex Richardson

Our standards. The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.