Chinese tech hub Shenzhen offers prime example of new normal under country’s dynamic zero-Covid-19 strategy

The city’s new normal means continued vigilance that requires a negative Covid-19 test result to enter public venues and use of familiar technology like WeChat.
Post-lockdown Shenzhen on Thursday showed reinvigorated activity in Huaqiangbei, home to the world’s biggest electronics wholesale market

Shenzhen

Iris Dengin Shenzhen

Published: 9:56pm, 31 Mar 2022

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Shenzhen, China’s Silicon Valley and the richest city in southern Guangdong province, has become the prime example of how Beijing’s dynamic zero-Covid-19 strategy is implemented on the ground, after the metropolis put the highly contagious Omicron variant outbreak under control after a week-long lockdown.

The new normal for the city of 17.6 million residents, where people are now able to move around and return to work, means continued vigilance that requires a negative nucleic acid test result to enter public venues and use of familiar technology like super app WeChat.

From Thursday, all domestic travellers are required to report their location and other pertinent travel details through a government-designated mini app on WeChat – the ubiquitous, multipurpose social media platform run by Tencent Holdings – upon arriving in the city via air or rail transport. Other required information from a visitor includes flight number, seat number, address of destination and health status.

That comes on top of an existing requirement that arrivals from high-risk regions and areas reporting positive cases must present a negative Covid-19 test result within 48 hours. Those who refuse to comply could face legal consequences, according to a government notice.

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Those requirements, however, are now seen as minor inconveniences after its residents and businesses endured a week-long lockdown, which was lifted on March 21. The city this week recorded just single digits of infections per day, compared with a peak of more than 100 daily cases during the lockdown from March 14 to 20.

Lockdowns, closures and repeated testing have become part of the new normal for many mainland Chinese residents and businesses under the central government’s zero-tolerance policy to the coronavirus, which is in contrast to countries like Singapore that have adopted a “living with Covid-19” approach.

Post-lockdown Shenzhen on Thursday showed reinvigorated activity in Huaqiangbei, home to the world’s biggest electronics wholesale market, which was closed most days in March. Merchants, all wearing protective masks, were seen pushing trolleys stacked with goods and making deliveries.

All merchants and visitors in Huaqiangbei are required to present a negative Covid-19 test result issued within 24 hours. Security and pandemic control personnel, all of whom wear personal protective equipment, are stationed in every building entrance, as people line up to get their health code scanned.

Huaqiangbei is home to the world’s biggest electronics wholesale market. Photo: Shutterstock

To help people get free and easy access to Covid-19 tests, multiple testing spots have been set up in the central pedestrian area of Huaqiangbei.

While queue waiting time typically takes about 10 minutes, one vendor who declined to be identified, on Thursday complained about waiting in line for two hours during rush hour on Wednesday. The vendor, who sells graphic cards at Huaqiang Electronic World, said the sticker received from the test is used as proof to get inside the mall after it was temporarily closed on Tuesday.

To prevent people from crowding the pedestrian areas in Huaqiangbei, multiple barriers have been erected to help control the flow of people. Security personnel, carrying loudspeakers, go on roving patrols to remind people not to gather in groups.

Shenzhen reopens after Covid lockdown but controls stay in place for some

Shenzhen’s execution of targeted lockdowns and strict monitoring enabled major factories to resume operations and minimise disruption to manufacturing supply chains.

After a two-day closure, the Shenzhen factories of Apple supplier Foxconn Technology Group restarted some operations on March 16 under a “closed-loop” management system, which keeps all employees living and working on company campuses.

Meanwhile Shanghai, a city of 25 million people, started a two-stage lockdown and mass testing programme on Monday.