In China, several cities across the country have imposed new corona restrictions. Among them is the export center Yiwu. According to the city administration, a three-day lockdown to contain the latest virus outbreak will apply in the eastern Chinese city in Zhejiang Province from Thursday. Yiwu is an important manufacturing and export hub. 1.9 million people live there. In other cities, too, the freedom of movement for millions of people is largely restricted to their residential areas. Exceptions apply to corona tests, grocery shopping or hospital visits.
In China’s western Xinjiang region, employees in three cities in the Aksu region were allowed to leave their homes to work from Thursday. Everyone else had to limit their freedom of movement to the bare minimum. It was not clear when the measures would be lifted. Important districts in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi were cordoned off for five days on Wednesday. The infections continued to spread in the tourist hotspots of Hainan and Tibet, and the affected cities were cordoned off. Around 178,000 tourists are now stranded on the tropical island of Hainan.
The Chinese yuan slipped Thursday from a two-week high the day before, as rising infections and fresh lockdowns fueled worries about the country’s slow and uneven economic recovery. Although the number is very low in global comparison, China continues to adhere to the strict zero-Covid policy even with smaller outbreaks in order to contain larger outbreaks at all costs.