BEIJING — Covid controls in China have tightened in the last two weeks after more cities reported virus outbreaks.
The restrictions on business and social activity affected 9.2% of China’s gross domestic product as of Thursday, up from 7% on Oct. 16, according to Nomura’s model.
“Since the 20th National Party Congress kicked off on 16 October, domestic Covid case numbers have been clearly on an upward trajectory,” the firm’s chief China economist Ting Lu and a team said in a report Thursday. “The national lockdown situation has been getting ... significantly worse.”
But in China -- which has seen its own economy suffer from a strict zero-Covid policy involving tight border controls, snap lockdowns and mandatory quarantines -- there appears to be no end in sight to the restrictions, despite mounting public frustration.
The latest lockdown started Monday in Fenyang city in northern China’s Shanxi province after a preliminary positive case was found in citywide testing the previous day, state broadcaster CCTV reported. ...