China Locks Down Tech Hub Shenzhen as COVID Cases Rise

With COVID cases rising, China has issued a new lockdown for its tech hub, Bloomberg reported Sunday (March 13).

China has put 17.5 million residents of its southern city of Shenzhen into lockdown until March 26, a city government notice said.

The measures come as virus cases are doubling around the country, hitting almost 3,400.

The new measures extend the restrictions placed earlier on the city’s central business district. The infections are reportedly likely to have come from Hong Kong, which is nearby and has around 300,000 people currently in isolation or under home quarantine.

Shenzhen will also be doing three rounds of mass testing.

Bloomberg reported that all bus and subway systems in the city have been ordered to shut during the restrictions, and businesses not providing essential services will close. Meanwhile, employees will work from home if possible.

In addition, residents won’t be able to leave the city except in limited situations, and they’ll have to produce a negative COVID test if they do leave.

The viral infections came from the omicron variant, which is more contagious than previous variants. This has posed a challenge for the country’s COVID Zero strategy, which has been abandoned by the rest of the world, with officials elsewhere not wanting to do full lockdowns.

See also: Hotels Offer Perks, Discounts for ‘Super Commuters’

PYMNTS wrote that the pandemic has seen a rise of people checking into hotels to work, with remote work becoming more common.

This has meant employees who moved out of the city have becoming regulars at hotels. That has seen a rise in “comfortable bolt-holes” after the long commute.

Hotels are thus trying to take advantage of the trend. They have been debuting new packages designed specifically for those employees, with features like parking, conference rooms and lower rates for the middle of the week.