Chinese businesses guard against wave of infections feared after COVID easing

Haidilao International Holding

09/12/2022 01:23

(Repeats Thursday story with no change to text)
    By Siyi Liu and Josh Horwitz
       BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Manufacturers and
eateries keen to stay open in China are preferring to err on the
side of caution, by retaining COVID-19 curbs until they get a
clearer picture of just how workplaces will be affected by the
easing of stringent measures.
    The world's second largest economy is bracing for a wave of
infections as it relaxes a "zero-COVID" policy, winding down a
campaign of hunting out and isolating infections as it hands
back to individuals most of the task of detection and treatment.
    In sparse comments on workplace conditions, however,
national health officials have urged that high-risk areas should
be much more narrowly defined, while production or business
operations continue elsewhere.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N32Y07P 
    "We are still under closed loop management with workers not
allowed to leave the factory," said a manager at a leading
stainless steel mill in eastern China, who gave his surname as
Dai.
    "It won’t relax any time soon," he added, saying the mill
wanted to hold down infections as much as possible with the
system in which workers live and work onsite, isolated from the
wider world. 
    The comments came as businesses told Reuters they were
sizing up the new uncertainty, expecting to have to grapple with
long periods of absence by sick workers that could crimp
operations, perhaps for months longer. 
    While authorities have scrapped testing as a pre-requisite
for many activities, hotpot chain Haidilao  6862.HK  said it
would continue to require daily PCR tests for staff working at
its dine-in outlets in Beijing, the capital.
    Many nations exiting COVID curbs overcame similar challenges
in restoring business activity, but Chinese firms' scramble
spotlights the difficulties ahead in reviving a slowing economy
rendered a global outlier by the zero-COVID approach.  
    "Many of my workers with heavy mortgage burdens want to earn
more money to have a good Lunar New Year," said Yang Bingben,
whose factory in the eastern city of Wenzhou makes valves for
industrial use.
    Yang, who was referring to China's biggest holiday, which
falls in January next year, added that authorities had given him
little guidance on what to do if his plant, with a workforce of
more than 30, was hit by a mass infection.
    As he stockpiles medicines against such an eventuality, he 
has told staff to follow new guidelines to stay home if they got
infected, in which case he plans to pay them half their wages. 
    To avoid disruption from any infections, Yang initially
considered shutting the factory early ahead of the Lunar New
Year, but ultimately set aside that option. 
    In Beijing, some state firms and banks are grouping staff
into teams to ensure work continues despite any outbreak,
sources told Reuters. 
    Andy Chen, an employee of a state-owned company, said the
move came after someone in his office tested positive, adding,
"Staff are now divided into half and take weekly turns to work
in the office."
    In the southern city of Dongguan, Agilian Technology, a
contract manufacturer of consumer electronics, will continue to
require arriving workers to display health codes, while drawing
up a more comprehensive plan against a big outbreak.
    "I am confident it will be a mess for about 3 months," said 
   
the firm's executive vice president, Renaud Anjoran. "We will
see."
 (Reporting by Siyi Liu in Beijing and Josh Horwitz in Shanghai;
Additional reporting by Ellen Zhang, Sophie Yu and Ziyi Tang in
Beijing; Writing by Brenda Goh; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
 ((brenda.goh@thomsonreuters.com; +86 (0) 21 2083 0088; Reuters
Messaging: brenda.goh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))