(Bloomberg) — Cities across China are rolling out swift measures from mass-testing drives to lockdowns for just a mere handful of Covid-19 cases, aiming to keep flareups at bay and avoid the economic and social hardship endured by Shanghai.
Hangzhou, an e-commerce hub a short train ride from Shanghai, has started a mass testing drive, joining the capital Beijing in trying to stamp out outbreaks before they spiral out of control. The port cities of Qingdao and Qinhuangdao, along with Yiwu — known for its production of Christmas decorations — have gone into full or partial lockdowns.
The hardline responses reflect the growing stakes local governments face in wrestling with the highly infectious omicron strain before it takes hold, plunging cities into protracted lockdowns that incur heavy costs on residents and businesses.
Read more: Anger Erupts at Xi’s ‘Big White’ Army of Lockdown Enforcers
China’s dogged pursuit of Covid Zero, as the rest of the world lives with the virus and dismantles restrictions, has seen it slide in Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking of where the pandemic is being handled best with the least economic and social disruption.
Highly ranked in the first year-and-a-half of the pandemic, China has slipped to 51st among the 53 major economies tracked, with just Russia and the territory of Hong Kong scoring lower, dragged down by its increasing reliance on restrictions like lockdowns and its effectively closed international border.
Shanghai, which has become the biggest hotspot in China’s worst outbreak since the virus first emerged in Wuhan, has endured a month of lockdown that has kept most of the city’s 25 million residents confined to their homes.
The outbreak now appears to be stabilizing, with infections falling for a fifth day on Wednesday to 10,662 — the lowest in more than three weeks.
In Beijing, just 50 cases were reported yesterday, signaling mass-testing isn’t detecting a broader outbreak.
“Beijing is going to prove one thing: whether having Covid outbreaks getting out of control in our mega-city is just a coincidence, or something inevitable,” said Hu Xijin, the retired editor-in-chief of Communist Party-backed Global Times newspaper and an influential commentator. “Could there be loopholes we can plug and improve or is it the result of omicron having the ability to penetrate any defence erected.”
Beijing’s testing blitz, along with measures including limiting mobility of those considered to have been exposed to the virus, “could be a very pivotal defense that has significant implication for the overall situation” Hu said.
Beijing appeared to order a wider shutdown of schools Thursday, with some suspending in-class teaching. Officials said Wednesday students and toddlers account for nearly one-third of the infections found in the city at the time.
Hangzhou, home to tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., has urged residents to get tested every 48 hours. In Beijing, some 20 million people will get tested three times this week as the capital races to uncover omicron’s spread in the sprawling capital.
Hangzhou is also home to a small but notable network of tech companies, including games maker NetEase Inc. and video-surveillance product company Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. It’s also the base of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., the carmaker owned by billionaire auto titan Li Shufu and Nongfu Spring Co., the bottled drinks company owned by China’s richest man Zhong Shanshan.
The port cities of Qingdao and Qinhuangdao have also announced partial lockdowns, moves that could further worsen global supply chain snarls as local governments take swift measures to stifle Covid flareups.
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