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Chinese officials have ordered strict lockdown measures in response to a surge of new COVID-19 cases over the past several weeks. China has reported 1,437 new cases on Monday (March 14), a four-fold increase since last week.
The lockdowns were put in place in the province of Jilin and the cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan and impacted over 50 million people. It is the first provincial-wide lockdown in China since January 2020.
Authorities said that the lockdowns would last for seven days. During that time, all public transportation will be halted, and all non-essential businesses will be forced to close. In addition, everybody living in the locked-down regions will have to undergo three rounds of COVID testing.
As a result of the lockdowns, Foxconn, one of the largest suppliers for Apple, said it was shuttering operations as part of the lockdown. While the company said it has made adjustments to its production lines to "minimize the potential impact," experts worry that an extended shutdown could make the ongoing supply chain issues even worse.
"It seems the lockdowns will be shorter this time with more tracking, which means a short disruption of work and production," Professor Heiwai Tang at Hong Kong University told ABC News. "If it ends up lasting for weeks, it's another issue, including inflation risks."