New COVID-19 cases surged in Guangzhou and other Chinese cities, official data showed yesterday, with the global manufacturing hub becoming China’s latest COVID-19 epicenter and testing the city’s ability to avoid a Shanghai-style lockdown.
Nationwide, new locally transmitted infections rose to 7,475 on Monday, China’s health authority said, up from 5,496 the day before and the highest since May 1. Guangzhou accounted for nearly one-third of the new infections.
The increase was modest by global standards, but significant for China, where outbreaks are to be quickly tackled when they surface under its “zero COVID” policy. Economically vital cities, including Beijing, are demanding more polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for residents and locking down neighborhoods and even districts in some cases.
Photo: Bloomberg
The sharp rebound will test China’s ability to keep its virus measures surgical and targeted, and could dampen investors’ hopes that its economy could ease curbs and restrictions soon.
“We are seeing a game between rising voices for loosening controls and rapid spreading of COVID cases,” said Nie Wen, a Shanghai-based economist at Hwabao Trust.
Considering how the nationwide COVID-19 curbs are crushing domestic consumption, Nie said he had downgraded his fourth-quarter economic growth forecast to about 3.5 percent from 4 to 4.5 percent. The economy grew 3.9 percent in July-September.
The rising caseload dragged on China’s stock markets yesterday, but shares have not yet surrendered last week’s big gains.
Investors see China’s beaten-down markets as an attractive prospect as a global slowdown looms, and have focused on small clues of gradual change — such as more targeted lockdowns and progress on vaccination rates.
“No matter how harsh the letter of the law is ... there is a little bit more loosening,” said Damien Boey, chief macro strategist at Australian investment bank Barrenjoey.
Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, reported 2,377 new local cases for yesterday, up from 1,971 the previous day. It was a dramatic jump from double-digit increases two weeks ago.
Surging case numbers in the sprawling city, dubbed the “factory floor of the world,” means Guangzhou has surpassed the Inner Mongolia city of Hohhot to become China’s COVID-19 epicenter, in its most serious outbreak ever.
Many of Guangzhou’s districts, including Haizhu, have imposed varying levels of curbs and lockdowns, but it has not imposed a blanket lockdown like the one in Shanghai earlier this year.
Shanghai, currently not facing a virus resurgence, went into a lockdown in April and May after reporting several thousand new infections daily in the last week of March.
“We have been working from home for the past couple of days,” said Aaron Xu, who runs a company in Guangzhou. “Only a few compounds have been locked up so far. Mostly we are seeing disruptions in the form of public transit services being suspended and compound security barring couriers and food delivery. And we have to do PCR tests every day.”
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has fired his national police chief, who gained attention for leading the separate arrests of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte on orders of the International Criminal Court and televangelist Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, who is on the FBI’s most-wanted list for alleged child sex trafficking. Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin did not cite a reason for the removal of General Nicolas Torre as head of the 232,000-member national police force, a position he was appointed to by Marcos in May and which he would have held until 2027. He was replaced by another senior police general, Jose
STILL AFLOAT: Satellite images show that a Chinese ship damaged in a collision earlier this month was under repair on Hainan, but Beijing has not commented on the incident Australia, Canada and the Philippines on Wednesday deployed three warships and aircraft for drills against simulated aerial threats off a disputed South China Sea shoal where Chinese forces have used risky maneuvers to try to drive away Manila’s aircraft and ships. The Philippine military said the naval drills east of Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) were concluded safely, and it did not mention any encounter with China’s coast guard, navy or suspected militia ships, which have been closely guarding the uninhabited fishing atoll off northwestern Philippines for years. Chinese officials did not immediately issue any comment on the naval drills, but they
POWER CONFLICT: The US president threatened to deploy National Guards in Baltimore. US media reports said he is also planning to station troops in Chicago US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to deploy National Guard troops to yet another Democratic stronghold, the Maryland city of Baltimore, as he seeks to expand his crackdown on crime and immigration. The Republican’s latest online rant about an “out of control, crime-ridden” city comes as Democratic state leaders — including Maryland Governor Wes Moore — line up to berate Trump on a high-profile political stage. Trump this month deployed the National Guard to the streets of Washington, in a widely criticized show of force the president said amounts to a federal takeover of US capital policing. The Guard began carrying
Ukrainian drone attacks overnight on several Russian power and energy facilities forced capacity reduction at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant and set a fuel export terminal in Ust-Luga on fire, Russian officials said yesterday. A drone attack on the Kursk nuclear plant, not far from the border with Ukraine, damaged an auxiliary transformer and led to 50 percent reduction in the operating capacity at unit three of the plant, the plant’s press service said. There were no injuries and a fire sparked by the attack was promptly extinguished, the plant said. Radiation levels at the site and in the surrounding
RSS