As some of the most populated and economically significant cities in the nation battle outbreaks, the 21.2 million-person metropolis of Chengdu in southwest China declared a lockdown on its citizens and began four days of COVID-19 testing for the entire city.
The municipal government announced in a statement that residents of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, were instructed to stay indoors as of Thursday at 6 p.m. Households were permitted to send one person per day to shop for supplies.
The largest Chinese city to have been placed under lockdown since Shanghai in April and May is Chengdu, which on Wednesday reported 157 cases of domestically transmitted illnesses. It is still unknown if the lockdown will be lifted after the Sunday mass testing is finished. In China, millions more people are subject to targeted Covid-19 containment restrictions, especially in major areas like Shenzhen and Guangzhou in the Guangdong Province of southern China and in the northern port city of Dalian.
The only other large economy still enforcing a rigorous zero-COvid policy is China, whose mass testing, corporate closures, abrupt lockdowns, and travel bans have all had a negative impact on the economy’s growth.
Beijing has strengthened its stance in front of the Communist Party of China’s crucial 20th National Congress, which is now scheduled for October 16.
Work-from-home regulations were exempted for industrial businesses that engaged in significant manufacturing and could operate on closed campuses. The Chengdu plant of Volvo Cars, based in Sweden, will temporarily close.
