Covid control workers disinfected an area in Beijing on Monday, November 28, 2022, where a day earlier locals had gathered to protest the strict Covid measures.
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BEIJING — Mainland China reported its first drop in the number of daily Covid cases in more than a week on Monday.
The country said local infections, mostly asymptomatic, totaled 38,421, down from a record high of 40,052 reported on Sunday, according to CNBC calculations of Wind Information data.
The data shows that the last time the daily case count dropped from the previous day was on November 19.
Local infections fell in Guangdong and Chongqing, two of the hardest-hit areas in the latest Covid wave. No new deaths have been reported.
But the capital Beijing saw an increase in infections on Monday from a day earlier, as did Shanghai, albeit on a much smaller scale. Shanghai Disneyland said it would suspend operations from Tuesday, after reopening briefly on Friday. Universal Beijing Resort remains open.
There was no sign of new protests on Monday. Over the weekend, students and groups across China held public protests to opposes the country’s strict no-Covid policy.
According to social media, security has been tightened in areas where protesters gather in Beijing and Shanghai. Some social media reports said police were checking the phones of locals in Shanghai for foreign apps that would not be accessible in the mainland without a VPN.
China’s official nightly news broadcast on Monday made no mention of the unrest, but included a paragraph calling for unity around current Covid measures. The broadcast also highlighted how the government maintains health services and provides daily necessities to those under lockdown.
The purpose of the measures is to minimize the impact of Covid on the economy and society, a commentary on Tuesday in the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, claimed. The article firmly rejected the idea of loosening controls.
The strict control measures of Covid this year have severely affected business activity and economic growth in China. As of the third quarter, the national GDP grew by 3% year-on-year, well below the official target of around 5.5% set in March.
As of Monday, 25.1% of China’s GDP had been negatively impacted by Covid’s control measures, according to Nomura’s model. This is higher than the previous peak of 21.2% recorded in April during the blockade in Shanghai.
“The rapidly growing public dissatisfaction with the closures over the weekend may further blur the path to reopening,” said Nomura analysts.
Adjusting the loosening and tightening policy
The city government later banned the use of hard materials to block emergency exits, apartment building doors and entrances to the complex, and noted that short-term blockades should not exceed 24 hours. .
They also said outbound channels for medical treatment would not be impeded. In the past, anecdotes on social media have described how people were denied access to medical care due to supposed Covid-19 control.
Covid measures and their implementation vary from place to place, especially due to the sporadic nature of outbreaks.
Starting Tuesday, the city of Shanghai tightened restrictions on access to restaurants, shopping malls and other commercial venues. Anyone wanting to enter must now present a negative virus test result within the last 48 hours, down from 72 hours.
And after the protests, at least Tsinghua University encouraged students to return home early during the Chinese New Year winter break – more than a month ahead of schedule.
— Eunice Yoon of CNBC contributed to this report.
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