President Xi Jinping affirmed that he would not relax COVID-19 control

Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Hainan Island, April 13 – Photo: Xinhua News Agency

Chinese state media quoted Xi Jinping as saying that the anti-corruption policy must be maintained COVID-19 strictly, while trying to minimize the impact on the economy and society.

Currently, China is blocking the Shanghai outbreak, with more than 25,000 new cases of COVID-19 every day. This is the country’s largest outbreak of COVID-19 since the outbreak in Wuhan at the end of 2019.

On April 13, Shanghai warned anyone violating the blockade measures will be severely dealt with, and urged 25 million residents to “unanimously fight the epidemic”.

Shanghai is under great pressure in fighting the epidemic. On April 12, this city recorded 25,141 new cases of COVID-19, up from 22,348 in the previous day.

The number of cases has increased steadily for more than 10 consecutive days, while people in the blockade are also struggling to ensure daily necessities.

Food prices are also skyrocketing. Peng Wenhao, an official from Shanghai’s market watchdog, said authorities had issued up to 38,000 warning letters of price hikes and investigated complaints of unusual commodity price increases on social network.

People in Shanghai look out their room windows during the city’s blockade on April 12 – Photo: AFP

Newspaper SCMP There is a phenomenon of people in Shanghai rushing to buy larger sized refrigerators or buy more freezers to store food during the blockade.

A woman surnamed Meng said some of her neighbors had just ordered more refrigerators out of concern that the blockade would be prolonged.

“The authorities say that delivering food packages carries a risk of spreading the virus. To reduce the time it takes to get out, the most logical way is to buy more each time and increase the size of the refrigerator,” Ms. Meng said.

Statistics from global market research company GFK China branch show that the number of refrigerators sold in Shanghai increased by 48.4% year-on-year in the last week of March.

In the second week of April, from April 4 to April 10, refrigerator sales in the city increased by 153.2 percent year-on-year.

Analysts warn that China’s zero-COVID policy – reflected in epidemic prevention measures in Shanghai – could hurt supply chains in many areas, while also affecting tourism.

Data released on April 13 showed that China’s imports in March fell for the first time since August 2020. This is due to COVID-19 restrictions hampering cargo volumes and weakening demand.