China commerce city Yiwu imposes quasi-lockdown as local officials struggle to balance zero-Covid with business normality
- Yiwu reported its first four confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the latest outbreak on August 2
- Latest outbreak and shutdown may frustrate efforts by local government to get its economy going after previous disruption
The city of Yiwu in central Zhejiang Province, a major source of manufactured goods for the rest of the world, has imposed a quasi-lockdown amid a new coronavirus outbreak, in another sign of the difficulties local officials face when balancing a dynamic zero Covid-19 policy with the economic imperative of keeping businesses running.
The Thursday lockdown of Yiwu, with residents encouraged not to “leave the city”, comes just as authorities were trying hard to get the local economy back to normal after previous disruption. The city’s gigantic wholesale markets, which sell made-in-China manufactured goods from shovels to shoes to nearly every country in the world, have been badly affected by coronavirus outbreaks.
Yiwu reported its first four confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the latest outbreak on August 2, just days after a chartered flight carrying 163 merchants from Pakistan landed in the city as part of efforts to reopen markets to overseas buyers, according to a Tuesday report by local official newspaper Jinhua Daily. According to the newspaper, the city is also looking to arrange flights to fly in Indian merchants.
But as local coronavirus cases have mounted, the city has re-entered an emergency mode, with mass testing requirements for residents and a de facto ban on outsiders as people from other places are “not encouraged to come to Yiwu unless necessary”, according to a government notice.
US-China tensions, strict Covid-19 policy hinder inflow of chip talent
Local officials have ordered that confined places such as KTV, cinemas, bars and gyms should be closed until further notice. Schools, off-campus training institutions as well as child care institutions, have also been closed until further notice.
Yiwu, which is also a Chinese e-commerce and livestreaming base, has been hard hit by China’s strict Covid-19 control measures. Prior to the pandemic, about 560,000 overseas merchants visited Yiwu every year to talk business deals and place orders, but this flow dried up after China closed its borders. Zhang Yaoyao, a suitcase merchant in Yiwu, was quoted by Jinhua Daily as saying that it was impossible for clients to visit the city currently.
Meanwhile, a representative from Eman Logistics, who organised the charter plane from Pakistan, told the Post that the merchants who arrived over the weekend are currently in quarantine to comply with government policy.
A Yiwu citizen surnamed Zheng, who declined to give his full name to the Post as the matter is sensitive, said his compound has started to conduct daily Covid testing from Wednesday, and that residents were free to leave the compound within 24 hours of posting a negative result. Some shopping malls in the vicinity have been closed, he said.
Two Yiwu merchants who also declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, told the Post that the city’s express delivery system currently works fine, but that the situation could change.
KFC, Pizza Hut’s China operator sees profit slashed in half by Covid curbs
In July, the Zhejiang government published guidelines including 10 measures to support and stabilise foreign trade and foreign investment. These included making sure that entry and exit documents for business staff are issued in a timely fashion, and organising charter flights for overseas exhibitors, overseas marketing staff, and overseas investment and other business personnel.
