Lockdown hits Shenzhen as covid infections increases
As a response to the recent increase of COVID-19 cases in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, the government has decided to shutdown the southern business center of the city.
At the same time, access to Shanghai has been restricted by suspending bus services, reports AP News.
On Sunday the Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission reported that it had registered 66 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, including six asymptomatic infections, and 20 imported COVID-19 cases. Today the Municipal Health Commission has reported that it has registered another 86 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases.
On Sunday, March 13, Shenzhen Daily reported that three rounds of citywide nucleic acid tests will be conducted as the city tires to curb the developments. All residents within the city are required to take the tests according to a notice by the Shenzhen COVID-19 Prevention and Control Command Office.
The notice continues to state that employees of business – except those dealing with the supplies of essentials like water, electricity, fuel, gas, communications, food and public sanitation – will be required to work from home, or suspend production and operation activities. These measures are reported to cover the entire city and remain in place until March 20.
While the amount of recorded cases are low in comparison to other countries and cities, such as Hong Kong where 32,000 new cases were reported on Sunday as pointed out by AP News. China has its “zero tolerance” strategy in place with which it can, and will, shut down entire cities to curb the spread.
Shenzhen is an electronics hub, one of the most important ones within the industry and houses several big players. Both EMS giant Foxconn and PCB manufacturer Unimicron have suspended their operations in the city.
In a filling with the Taiwanese stock exchange, Unimicron says that it stopped work at 8:00AM on the fourtheenth according to the local government's COVID-19 prevention work – and that the recovery time will be notified by the local government.
“The company cooperates with local government regulations to take contingency measures to ensure the safety and health of employees,” the company writes, and continues. “The revenue of Unimicron Technology (ShenZhen) Corp. accounts for less than 3%. It is estimated that this shutdown will have no significant impact on the company's financial business.”
