The number of corona infections in the city rose sharply last weekend. Every resident will now be tested three times. Only for that they are allowed to leave their house. There are no buses in the city, and the metro is also at a standstill. In any case, the measures will remain in force until March 18.
face masks
Measures have also been taken in other major Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Changchun.
China correspondent Roland Smid sees that things are badly wrong again in terms of corona, not only in Shenzhen. For example, in his location in Shanghai, where 25 million people live, everyone is walking on the street again with a mouth cap.
stay at school for 48 hours
“Several districts in the city are closed, which in turn has major consequences for daily life here. I am lucky that there are not many infections in my area yet, but in other parts of the city people have to quarantine at home,” says Smid . “On Friday several schools already decided – and that is going quite far – that all children had to stay at school for 48 hours. Those children spent the whole weekend in a classroom. They had to sleep and eat there. It is suddenly very intense. You see I really think that the omikron variant is very prevalent in the country. China is suffering a lot from that.”
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These are the social consequences, but there are also economic consequences, emphasizes Smid. “Shanghai is the financial-economic heart of the country. There are 25 million people living here, if it is locked it will have a huge effect.”
Iphones en iPads
“In Shenzhen in the south of China, near Hong Kong, they are already a step further, as said, that city is completely in lockdown. And Shenzhen is economically extremely important because, for example, many electronic products are made there. Think of Foxconn, which makes iPhones and iPads for Apple, among other things. The company has announced that all production will be halted until further notice.”
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And there are more companies there, says Smid. “If that lockdown is going to last very long, Europe will also notice. We already had a chip shortage last year, which has still not been solved, and all kinds of delivery problems regarding products made in China. Remember, China is still the factory of the world and if cities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai are locked, it affects the production chain worldwide. You really have to assume that if these lockdowns last even longer, you will have to wait longer for all electronics in the Netherlands too.”
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