Wuhan shuts some businesses, transport over new infections

BEIJING • China's central metropolis of Wuhan temporarily shut some businesses and public transport in a district with almost a million people yesterday, as the city where the pandemic first emerged raised vigilance after several new infections.

Wuhan's district of Jiangxia, with over 900,000 residents, said its main urban areas entered a three-day restriction period yesterday. During that period, it will ban large group events and dining at restaurants, and close various public entertainment venues, agricultural product marketplaces and small clinics, while also suspending bus and subway services.

It also urged residents not to leave the area during the three days and encouraged travellers to avoid entry.

The order came after the Jiangxia authorities said late on Tuesday they had detected two cases during regular testing drives and found another two from the screening of individuals who came into close contact with infection.

China, heavily invested in its "dynamic zero Covid-19" policy, relies on mass testing, quick restriction on business activity and people's movements, and strict quarantine of cases to block nascent clusters from widening.

The strategy has helped Wuhan and other areas in the country to keep the number of cases in check, but harsh lockdowns during major outbreaks and the fear of potential repeated curbs whenever new cases are reported have dented the economy and business confidence.

China's National Health Commission yesterday reported 703 new virus cases for Tuesday, of which 120 were symptomatic and 583 were asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately. It reported 976 cases a day ago.

Some steel warehouses in Shanghai's Baoshan district entered a three-day lockdown from Tuesday after a residential neighbourhood in the district was classified as high-risk following the detection of a coronavirus case there.

Three out of six warehouses in Baoshan contacted by Reuters said they were required to enter a "closed loop" system, with no staff or materials allowed in or out of the warehouses. Operations inside the warehouses, however, are running normally.

"It is like quarantine, we are not allowed to leave the warehouses. Steel can't be transported in or out, but we still work, and we have food stored in advance," a worker at a Baoshan warehouse told Reuters. He did not identify himself as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

A spokesman for Baoshan Iron & Steel, the listed unit of the world's top steelmaker China Baowu Steel, said yesterday they had not received any guidance to lock down their warehouses in Shanghai.

REUTERS