‘Have a bad feeling’: Epidemiologist on China's surging Covid-19 cases and lockdown

China is reeling under a fresh surge of coronavirus infections, having reported more local symptomatic Covid-19 cases so far this year than it recorded in all of 2021.

In view of this, all 17 million people in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen began their first full day under lockdown on Monday, while restrictions spread across Shanghai and other major cities as well.

The southern city of Shenzhen imposed the measure on Sunday to counter an Omicron flare-up in factories and neighbourhoods linked to nearby Hong Kong, which is recording scores of daily deaths as the virus runs rampant.

Major Apple supplier Foxconn suspended its operations in Shenzhen, the company said Monday, as the lockdown bit hard into economic activity across the factory hub.

Shenzhen is one of ten cities nationwide to have locked down all residents, though the measure was taken Monday in some parts of other major hubs including Dalian, Nanjing and Tianjin, which neighbours the capital.

Health officials have warned tighter restrictions could be on their way, as concerns mount over the resilience of China's "zero-Covid" approach in the face of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant.

Sharing a news story about the same, epidemiologist Dr Eric Feigl-Ding took to Twitter on Monday to say that he has a “bad feeling” about the situation.

“I have a bad feeling again—China is reinstating measures and has fired the mayors of two key cities. Thus far, China has shut down an industrial city, urged residents not to leave Beijing and closed down schools in Shanghai due to increase of Covid-19,” wrote Ding.

Lamenting the effects this can have on global supply chains, he said: “If mainland China follows the way of Hong Kong — then China will be royally screwed. And the world’s supply chain might completely melt down for a period. HK deaths are surging so high it is approaching NYC in spring 2020–and HK hasn’t peaked yet.”

Citing China's decision of allowing rapid antigen testing this year, he said that “something is very different this year”.

“Outbreak is still early in China, but look at that near-vertical surge. The fact that it’s simultaneously happening with lockdowns in multiple cities at once shows urgency that we haven’t seen before. And keep in mind Shenzhen and Shanghai are critical industrial cities!” wrote Ding.

This comes as Chinese authorities reported 2,300 new virus cases nationwide on Monday and almost 3,400 a day earlier, the highest daily figure in two years.

"There have been many small-scale clusters in urban villages and factories," Shenzhen city official Huang Qiang said at a Monday briefing.

"This suggests a high risk of community spread, and further precautions are still needed."