China re-opens more areas at risk for COVID spread as lockdowns ease

China Reinsurance (Group)

12/12/2022 09:20

BEIJING, Dec 12 (Reuters) - China has slashed the number
of locations deemed at high risk of wider COVID outbreaks,
re-opening locked down areas including one hosting a key factory
of an Apple supplier.
    The number of high-risk areas tumbled to around 4,500 on
Monday, official data showed, down 85% from more than 30,000 on
Dec. 7 before the latest policy shift was announced. 
    A district in the city of Zhengzhou in central China where
iPhone supplier Foxconn  2317.TW  has a vast facility declared
on Monday that it had released all high-risk zones from
lockdown.
    Last month, thousands of workers fled the Foxconn facility
on fears of COVID lockdowns, curtailing production.
    High-risk areas without new infections for five consecutive
days should be released from lockdown, according to one of
China's latest protocols released on Dec. 7.
    Local authorities have also been warned not to arbitrarily
expand the scope of lockdowns or prolong them. 
    Economists say the China's shift to live with COVID will
reduce disruptive lockdowns that have dragged on the economy
particularly this year because of the high transmissibility of
the Omicron variant of the virus. 
 (Reporting by Ryan Woo and Albee Zhang; Editing by Christian
Schmollinger)
 ((Ryan.Woo@thomsonreuters.com;))