(Reuters) – China’s supply chains must be stabilised amid COVID-19 outbreaks, with local governments helping key companies get back to work, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Vice Premier Liu He as saying.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals for a case tracker and summary of news.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Manufacturers including Tesla began preparing to reopen their Shanghai factories on Monday, as the city accelerated efforts to exit a COVID-19 lockdown that has forced most businesses in China’s economic hub to shut for nearly three weeks.
* The tensions of lockdown have exposed divisions among Shanghai residents, pitting young against old, locals against outsiders, and above all, COVID-negative against COVID-positive people.
* Shanghai has set a target to stop the spread of COVID-19 outside of quarantined areas by Wednesday, two people familiar with the matter said, which would allow the city to ease its lockdown and start returning to normal life.
* Japan’s top representative in Shanghai urged China’s most populous city to address concerns of Japanese businesses over losses and other disruptions caused by lockdowns aimed at containing a COVID-19 surge.
* China said it will help hundreds of companies in key sectors to resume production in locked-down Shanghai, as businesses warn of the growing economic toll of restrictions.
* Shanghai reported a record number of symptomatic COVID-19 cases and other areas across China tightened controls as the country kept up its “dynamic clearance” approach that aims to stamp out the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
EUROPE
* Prime Minister Boris Johnson has thrust Britain into a constitutional crisis by breaking the law he set for pandemic restrictions, effectively “shredding the ministerial code”, the country’s leading constitutional expert said.
AMERICAS
* The U.S. State Department said it will sharply cut back on “Do Not Travel” advisories for international destinations after public health officials announced a change in how they will assess COVID-19 concerns.
AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST
* Africa is experiencing its longest-running decline in weekly COVID-19 infections since the start of the pandemic, the World Health Organization said.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* COVID-19 vaccine candidates developed by a Sinopharm subsidiary and Sinovac Biotech to target the Omicron variant were approved for clinical trials in Hong Kong, the companies said.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* China’s economy grew at a faster than expected clip in the first quarter, data showed on Monday, expanding 4.8% year-on-year, but the risk of a sharp slowdown over coming months has risen as sweeping COVID-19 curbs and the Ukraine war take a heavy toll.
* A sharp rebound in automotive output in March spurred a third straight monthly gain in U.S. factory activity, perhaps signalling the worst of the production woes that have dogged the motor vehicle industry over the last year may have passed.
(Compiled by Sherry Jacob-Phillips; Edited by Shounak Dasgupta)
