BEIJING, China: Since 2020, when the world first witnessed an entire population locked down due to Covid in Wuhan and its surrounding province, China is now facing its worst COVID-19 surge.

Many millions of people are now being forced into lockdown in the entire northeastern province of Jilin, with a population of 24 million, as well as in the southern cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan, with populations of 17.5 million and 10 million, respectively.

This week, China, the last major country to pursue a zero-Covid-19 policy, reported 1,437 cases across dozens of cities, a four-fold surge in just one week.

There is also no sign China is willing to pivot to a policy of “living with the virus.”

In Northeastern Jilin province, 895 cases were recorded, but there are also outbreaks and containment measures in Shanghai, the country’s financial center, and Shenzhen, its southern tech hub.

Authorities have since announced that all 24 million people in Jilin province would go into lockdown, including the previously locked down city of Changchun.
This marks the first provincial lockdown that has been ordered since Wuhan and Hubei in January 2020.

China has also ordered all of Shenzhen’s 17.5 million residents into a seven-day lockdown, along with three rounds of testing. All public transport and businesses, except essential services, will remain closed until 20th March.

Apple supplier Foxconn has closed two of its plants in the area and relocated production.

In an interview with ABC News, Professor Heiwai Tang at Hong Kong University said he does not expect these week-long lockdowns to have a significant impact on the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

“It seems the lockdowns will be shorter this time with more tracking, which means a short disruption of work and production,” he said.

According to Professor Michael Song from Hong Kong’s Chinese University, the two-month lockdown in Wuhan cost China 2 percent of its GDP.

Meanwhile, Shanghai-based virologist Zhang Wenhong called the surge “the most difficult moment in the past two years” of China’s efforts to eliminate the virus. Shanghai has so far avoided a full lockdown.

Driven by the Omicron variant, Hong Kong is currently tackling its deadliest surge, recording 26,908 cases and 286 more deaths on March 14, said officials. The city’s death rate is the highest in the developed world, partly due to low vaccination rates among the elderly.