Beijing and Hangzhou, home to many of China’s leading tech firms, have started to implement Shenzhen’s approach to the country’s “dynamic zero” Covid-19 policy, by asking residents to present negative test results if they want to use public transport or enter certain venues.
Unlike the strict month-long lockdown in Shanghai that has generated public criticism and hardship for its 25 million residents – not to mention serious disruption of supply chains – the southern tech hub of Shenzhen has managed to keep an early outbreak of Omicron under control through only a week of lockdown.