BEIJING— Shanghai, China’s largest metropolis, went into a two-stage lockdown on Monday. As authorities tried a variety of measures to keep the country growing while battling the country’s worst Covid-19 outbreak since the pandemic began.
Shanghai, a 26-million-strong city on China’s southeastern coast, is the country’s financial and worldwide business center. The world’s largest container-shipping port is also located in the city.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange is still open for business. The exchange stated late Sunday that stock issuance applications and other paperwork can now be completed online, with any necessary deadline extensions.
Shanghai city announced the city-wide lockdown measures Sunday night. Which include instructions to work from home as well as the suspension of public transportation and vehicle hailing. Previously, only select neighborhoods had been subjected to brief lockdowns to contain disease pockets.
The first phase will take place Monday through Friday mornings in the eastern section of the city. This is where the financial center is located. The second phase will affect the western portion of the city. And will last from Friday morning through Tuesday afternoon, April 5, according to municipal officials.
“The lockdown and mandatory testing district by district in China’s largest city, key transportation hub, and financial center are highly likely to disrupt the city’s commercial activity,” stated Bruce Pang, head of macro and strategy research at China Renaissance.
China Tries To Preserve Economic Growth
According to Bloomberg, which cited sources, Tesla, whose Shanghai factory is located in the first stage of the lockdown, ceased production for at least a day on Monday. The electric vehicle manufacturer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
The introduction of the highly transmissible omicron strain has made outbreak control more difficult and created business concerns. The local governments across China has blamed omicron subvariant BA.2 for the recent spate of illnesses.
To control Covid outbreaks, China has committed to a strategy of lockdowns and quarantines while preserving economic growth. In comparison to other regions of the world, the approach enabled the country to recover from the first shock of the pandemic in early 2020. With relatively few infections and deaths.
This time, economists don’t expect short-term lockdowns to have a significant influence on the national economy over the year. Because workers can often stay on-site at industrial parks, travel restrictions and stay-at-home policies have a greater impact on consumer spending and services than factory productivity.
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