Apr 11, 2022 - World

China's manufacturing hub Guangzhou closes to arrivals due to COVID-19 cases

Noah Garfinkel

People line up for testing in Guangzhou — People line up for nucleic acid testing on April 9 in Guangzhou. Photo: Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Guangzhou, a major manufacturing city in China, has closed itself off to arrivals amidst a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country's big eastern cities, the Associated Press reported on Monday.

Driving the news: Guangzhou has not been put under a lockdown like the one in Shanghai, where many citizens are confined to their homes, but it is a major city with top companies and China's busiest airport, per AP.

26,087 cases were announced in Shanghai on Monday, but only 914 of those new cases showed symptoms.
Only 27 cases were reported in Guangzhou on Monday.

The big picture: China's "zero-COVID" policy calls for extreme lockdowns in the face of any COVID surges. This has led to food shortages, disruptions in medical care and censorship, as Axios' Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian reported.

Details: Many schools have switched to online learning in the Guangzhou area after 23 people tested positive at schools last week.

Only citizens with a "definitive need" to leave Guangzhou can do so, per AP.
Soccer team Shanghai Port will now have to withdraw from the Asian Champions League due to the restrictions.

What they're saying: Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian defended the virus controls on Sunday and said that they have “proven to be effective and in line with its national conditions and needs, and have made an important contribution to the global fight against the epidemic.”

Add Axios on Google

China's manufacturing hub Guangzhou closes to arrivals due to COVID-19 cases

What to read next