Covid-19: Airports, harbours, highways must remain open to protect transport, logistics chain amid restrictions, Beijing tells local governments

Beijing has ordered all provincial-level governments to keep airports, harbours and highways open so that transport and logistics links can be maintained amid strict anti-pandemic controls.

Local authorities must not erect roadblocks or put healthy truck drivers into quarantine either, the State Council – China’s cabinet – said on Monday evening, as it sought to ensure the supply of food and key materials to virus-hit areas is disrupted as little as possible.

“The central government is taking action to facilitate cross-provincial transport after gateway cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen were hit by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of Covid-19 pandemic,” said Xiong Hao, an assistant general manager at Shanghai Jump International Shipping. “Things will get worse if logistics services are disrupted.”

The executive order from the cabinet comes after foreign businesses lobbied central government to grant more special passes to lorry drivers as Shanghai, the epicentre of China’s latest Covid-19 outbreak, went into lockdown, with reduced handling capacity at its major airports and seaports.