Corona virus: millions of people in Chinese export city in lockdown

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Residents are tested for the corona virus (symbolic photo)

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Andy Wong / dpa

Millions of residents in Chinese cities have to go into lockdown again.

The export center of Yiwu in the province of Zhejiang in the east is also affected.

The city is an important manufacturing and export hub.

1.9 million people live there.

In other cities, too, the freedom of movement for millions of people was largely restricted to their residential areas by the authorities.

Exceptions apply to corona tests, grocery shopping or hospital visits.

In China's western Xinjiang region, employees in three cities in the Aksu region were allowed to leave their homes to work from Thursday.

Everyone else has to limit their freedom of movement to what is absolutely necessary.

It was not clear when the measures would be lifted.

Important districts in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi were cordoned off for five days on Wednesday.

The infections continued to spread in the tourist hotspots of Hainan and Tibet, and the affected cities were cordoned off.

Around 178,000 tourists are now stranded on the tropical island of Hainan.

More than 1,400 infections had been found there since the beginning of the month.

The outbreak is the largest on the island since the pandemic began.

Restricting freedom of movement for a few days once dozens of new cases emerge is one of the key measures of China's zero-Covid strategy.

This is intended to avoid longer lockdowns, such as the one in Shanghai in spring, which had weighed heavily on the economy.

The Chinese yuan slipped Thursday from a two-week high the day before, as rising infections and fresh lockdowns fueled worries about the country's slow and uneven economic recovery.

Although the number is very low in global comparison, China continues to adhere to the strict zero-Covid policy even with smaller outbreaks in order to contain larger outbreaks at all costs.

as/Reuters