BEIJING (Reuters) – The major aluminium-producing Chinese city of Baise reported on Tuesday its third straight day of rising local COVID-19 infections with the outbreak in the locked-down city likely to compound worries about disruption to supplies of the metal.
The city of 3.6 million in Guangxi region on the border with Vietnam recorded 64 new confirmed locally transmitted cases on Monday, the National Health Commission reported, up from 37 on Sunday and six on Saturday.
Baise has already ordered residents to stay indoors when not out to buy daily necessities. Non-essential trips in and out of the city have also been banned, under tough national guidelines aimed at quickly quelling COVID outbreaks as they appear.
The city has also suspended non-essential businesses, school and public transport, and delayed opening of ports of entry along its international border. Essential workers require special passes for movement within Baise.
Some of Baise’s alumina production – used in the making of aluminium – has been hit by the COVID restrictions and more producers have seen transport disruptions, according to Antaike, a government-backed consultancy.
Concerns about production disruptions helped lift London aluminium prices to a near four-month high on Tuesday.
Nationwide, China reported 105 new confirmed cases on Feb. 7, up from 79 a day earlier.
Excluding imported infections, 65 were locally transmitted, with Baise accounting for all but one, according to the National Health Commission, compared with 45 a day earlier.
Overall, China reported 46 new asymptomatic cases, which it classifies separately from confirmed cases, compared with 51 infections a day earlier.
There were no new deaths, leaving the death toll unchanged at 4,636.
As of Feb. 7, mainland China had 106,524 confirmed cases.
(Reporting by Gabriel Crossley, Albee Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
