Kevin Frayer | Getty Images News Getty Images BEIJING – Two months after the start of the latest Covid epidemic in China, many companies in the country’s two largest cities by GDP are facing new or existing restrictions on their operation. Over the weekend, the capital, Beijing, closed theme parks and banned food from restaurants to control Covid – just as the five-day holiday was about to begin. During last year’s holidays, domestic tourism revenues more than doubled from the previous year, according to official figures. Universal Beijing Resort closed on Sunday until recently. All gyms, leisure and live entertainment venues, internet cafes and other indoor sports facilities will be closed for the holidays, which will officially last until Wednesday, the city government announced. A major luxury mall in the city said Friday it would be temporarily closed due to restrictions related to Covid. Shanghai, meanwhile, which has undergone some of the toughest lockdowns in the entire city, has shown some signs of easing restrictions in recent days. The city announced on Saturday that it had added 1,188 more companies to its list of those allowed to resume production. For the initial list announced in mid-April with 666 companies – including 247 overseas-funded – more than 80% had resumed operations, the city said. Ahead of the second list, the EU Chamber of Commerce in China said the whitelist “is a very promising sign of Shanghai’s recovery”. However, the shortage of truck drivers and the movement of workers between the bubbles of factories and their homes remained a challenge, said Bettina Schoen-Behanzin, vice president of the chamber and president of Shanghai. He estimated on Friday that the challenges of the supply chain and logistics will last until the end of June. As of Monday, the number of people in Shanghai subject to the strictest home-stay orders has dropped to 2.5 million, from 5.3 million four days earlier, according to official figures. On Sunday, city officials announced that six areas of Shanghai contained the virus at the community level, but not most of the city’s central areas. The city said it has set up sites for regular tests. On Monday, mainland China reported a drop in new cases of symptomatic Covid, to 368 from 1,000 or more in recent weeks. Shanghai reported the most cases with symptoms, with 274, while Beijing came second with 51 new cases with symptoms. While residents are not allowed to leave parts of the city under lockdown, businesses in other areas remain generally open to those who have a negative test within the last 48 hours. Beijing has conducted several rounds of mass testing over the past week. He also announced that weekly tests would be required after the holidays for public transport or going to public places such as supermarkets. On Sunday, the city announced the opening of a central quarantine facility with 1,200 beds. Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of Universal Studios and CNBC.
